A Stranger Among Us
by Nan-darkness
Summary: NOT an Underworld fanfic but it takes place in the same settings. Based on the UW movies. The young death dealer Nathalka scouts the great city of Helsingfors hoping to find Lycans but instead she found someone she never had counted on, and she needs him
1. Synopsis

**Synopsis **

Raindrops fell from the sky in great numbers as I scouted the rooftops from my position on top of the great building of the Lutheran church at the Unioninkatu. Everything seemed calm this night. I felt the rain stream from my dark hair down my face and the wind tearing at my long leather coat. It didn't bother me much, heck it wasn't like I was going to freeze to death. In the past centuries death dealers from all over the continent had become more and more obsolete since the Great War about 150 years ago. We hunted the lycans down near the brink of extinction, at least so it seemed. While the rest of Europe was celebrating their victory over the defeat of their nations lycan packs here in the northern regions lycan activity became more and more frequent. It had seemed the beasts fled north from the eastern European countries across the east sea into the Scandinavian lands the lands that so far had been left pretty much at peace. I felt it as my duty to not stop hunting these animals just because they left my country oh no, where the lycans went, I went. My duties brought me north, across the Finnish gulf into a land at that moment unknown for me. More of my kind decided to follow and our new headquarters was founded within the fortress of Olavinlinna. Inside Olavinlinna we waited, we waited for the lycans to show their monstrous forms again so we could hunt them down and get rid of them once and for all. It didn't take long before we got reports of mortals who were brutally killed in their houses at night. Media reported strange wolf attacks, since the wolves normally leave humans alone. But we knew better, the lycans were back and this time they had preyed on the innocent and ignorant souls of the Norse countries. So far our hunt had been successful, this because we had the element of surprise. Where they went we would follow and I would not give up until I have killed the last one of these filthy beasts.

About two days ago we heard rumors of violent attacks of animals within the city of Helsingfors. Knowing that these were no mere wolves but in fact werewolves I brought a team of death dealers together to scout the city for any strange activities. I scouted the square centimeter by centimeter, to see if there was anything out of the usual. So far it had been a calm night.  
Until I noticed a dark figure among the many drunken teens who were trying to find their way home in this horrible weather. It seemed like a young tall human, definitely not someone from here.  
I readjusted my position to get a closer look, my muscles felt a breath of relieve since my change of position made my cold blood run through them again. This guy definitely didn't belong here but he also didn't have the stench of lycan written over him. I decided to stalk him for a few blocks to see where he was up to. He followed the Unioninkatu until he turned right near the university building into the Rauhankatu where he took another turn into an alley unknown by me.  
He started to slow his pace I still followed him with great caution, it seemed like he started to have the feeling he was being followed this could mean danger. I kept trying to make out his scent, definitely not lycan but also not mere mortal. He walked further into the ally until he abruptly stopped walking. I stopped as well my finger tingling ready to raise a weapon when needed.

Then, almost faster than my immortal senses could register he turned around and threw some kind of weapon at me lucky for me my reaction speed was still as great as always and he missed.  
I didn't wait for him to take another shot and charge forth to meet him for a good old wrestling game. As a wild cat defending its territory I released my fury upon him. But unlike anything I anticipated he strikes back with equal force. He smacked me across the face, causing me to lose my balance for a second and feeling my lip tear making it bleed.  
"That's no way to treat a lady" I said and smirked a girlish grin. _This guy was putting up a fight, and I was liking it. _

The fact that neither of us had reach for our guns yet suggested this was a 'fair fight'. I was too intrigued with this guy to spoil a good fight by blowing his brains out so we continued our fight the good old fashioned way.  
I rushed forward punching him in the stomach and kicking him into a wall. By the looks on his face he was not immune to pain, neither was I.  
He got up even after I stroke him down the third time. _Who was this guy? _We were both panting and bleeding but still neither of us was ready to call it even. A final punch of immense magnitude finally drove us apart it landed him about 5 meters away from me.  
Breathless I repositioned myself sitting on the floor with my back against the wall trying to catch my breath again.

"Who are you?" I finally managed to ask.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.**

As long as I can remember, I have been "gifted" with the opportunity to see the evil lurking in this world.

Seeing the darkness spreading amongst the normal humans is almost unbearable. While someone thinks that mankind is the worst that ever happened to this planet, this evil is undoubtedly the worst that ever happened to mankind.

This evil has caught up with me a long time ago. Chasing it, hunting it down until extinction, doesn't quite make them very friendly. They changed me, but instead of just killing me or making me one of them, they left me in my worst nightmare. Living by their rules, their laws, their nature. They forgot one thing, I would never give up. I used their strength to fight them, while they use my weakness to fight me. It's a never ending vicious circle.

For 10 years, I have almost seen everything that can happen when good, evil and neutral collide. Although, I was stupid enough to believe that I was the only one working at this side with this much dedication.

On a dark night in mid-October, there was a horrible storm. Almost all of the power was out, leaving the city only lightened by the electric storms hovering above it.

The rain poured down leaving the town soaked, dark and vulnerable. People didn't seem to notice the danger they were in. I don't think they ever saw me walking through the streets. My coat soaked up the water, I felt the first cold spots touching my skin, knowing that within minutes, I would be drenched and cold to the bone.

For then, I first felt a strange force following me. I just couldn't place it, couldn't figure out what it was and where it came from. It wasn't evil, but it wasn't the normal human ignorance either.

It annoyed me, I felt watched and uncomfortable. While I walked around a corner, I tore a brick out of a little stone wall surround a small garden. When I felt the power following me into the passageway, I threw the heavy stone towards her. As I expected, she dodged it like it was a punch thrown by a drunk.

She grinned at me, and I felt afraid. Never I ever felt this. When I encountered evil in the past, it was just a matter of survival of the fittest, kill or be killed. But right now, I just did not know what to do. She came towards me, showing her courage and determinacy. I was an invader in her world.

She threw fierce punches towards me. I tried to dodge them, but she was as fast as if she was dodging a punch from a drunk.

She ran towards me with great speed and agility. She threw a punch directly on my face, and I could feel my nose break. I stumbled backwards and regained my balance. I jumped towards the strange woman and punched her back with most of my strength. She lost her balance, stumbled backwards and grinned.

She said: "That's no way to treat a lady". I saw a small stream of blood flowing out of her lip. I then knew that it wasn't a serious fight. I was an invader in her world, but I wasn't the evil she was expecting to find. If she wanted to kill me, she would have used her weapon, concealed in a small pack on her thigh, covered by the black leather coat. We both hit each other with great strength. It seemed crazy that we could even stand up, but the adrenaline was high and gave off a constant power source.

Because of the rain, it looked like we would bleed to death from the cuts in our faces.

Suddenly, she stopped hitting. After three vicious blows that threw me to the ground, I still could manage to get up with ease. We were a perfect match, it wasn't worth fighting until one of us lost all their strength.

I didn't say a word. I hoped she would start the conversation, I was too intimidated by this new force.

Although, the main thing that worried me, was if my coat wasn't destroyed. I loved that coat, I couldn't bear to lose it.

She saw my absence of concentration, and made use of it. Although I still was afraid that she would strike again the moment I lost my focus, she didn't. She merely said this little line that made me wonder even more about this world. The little line that made me realize that I forgot something important, many years ago. A sentence that would face me with a strange personal problem.

She said: "who are you?"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I cannot remember" I said with too much hesitation in my voice.

_How can I even begin to explain_…. I thought to myself.

"How the hell can you forget who you are?" The mysterious woman said to me. Although I didn't even knew her name either, I didn't mind her to ask questions. You know who you are dealing with after a fight. I needed some good explanations for her, I didn't want to let her down even more. She could be a great ally. That is, if she didn't kill me before the sun went up.

"I don't know what to tell you, it's a bit complicated. I've been alone for the last 10 years, I never had anyone to talk to. I hate it when people know me. I need to be able to disappear into the dark when needed" I said to her.

"Why have you been alone for so long?" she asked me. And hearing from the tone in her voice she was actually sincere in trying to figure me out.

I replied: "When the evil caught up with me, they changed me. People stopped noticing me, and the ones that did see me, got killed by me."

There was a look in her eye that I have never seen before. The look that says that someone knows what you're talking about. She's been there.

"I don't know what you are, you're not a Lycan, and you're not one of us either. Although you seem to have the same strength as us."

I was confused, Lycans? Us? Where was she talking about, she obviously knew more about these regions and the darkness that inhabits it than I do.

"What's a Lycan, and who is us? There's more of you?"

I was surprised to learn this, I thought I was all alone, and now I found to not have found just one person who seemed to posses the same powers, or curse as I would call it, but there are more.

"My name is Nathalka, you seem like a stranger in these lands" She said as she tried to keep the conversation going. And in the mean time she was checking out the places I wounded her.

"I am, I am here on a mission" I let the information get through for a second "Nathalka, sounds Russian." I commented. But by the look on her face it was the wrong comment.

"That's exactly what everybody else thinks" She replied with aggravation in her voice.

"I'm sorry" I said. "I've been alone as long as I can remember, I think I have lost some of my 'people skills'" I looked at her, was that a smile I just saw for a second? If so it was only a split second before her face turned back into that impenetrable cold stare.

"You need to come with me" she said and her voice sounded more serious than ever before.

"I don't know if I should, like I said, I work best on my own" I said not sure If I could trust this mysterious figure enough to follow her to whatever place she might lead me.

"Look, it's a frakkin' miracle that you survived it on your own for so long" She said. "You can choose, either I kill you because you know too much, or you join me".

I was surprised by the dominance in her voice. I felt I had no choice, so I agreed to let myself be dragged into a new world. It won't be pleasant, I hate change, let alone a change of worlds.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I sat still with my back against the wall trying to get my breathing regulated again. The fight didn't as much wear me out as it did excite me. He was a match for me, _finally after all these centuries._

I saw him drift off in his own mind before he answered my question.

"I cannot remember" he said, his voice gave away that he was hesitating.

"How the hell can you forget who you are?" I snapped back at him, for an immortal I was still young and I sometimes let the young impulsive part get the better of me.

"I don't know what to tell you, it's a bit complicated. I've been alone for the last 10 years, I never had anyone to talk to. I hate it when people know me. I need to be able to disappear into the dark when needed" he answered me.

_Boy, talking about complicated. _I thought to myself. He needs to disappear into the dark, who is he. He's not lycan, nor is he a vampire his smell is more of that of a mortal. I couldn't help but feel drawn to him there was danger around him but still he's being did feel like something familiar.

"Why have you been alone for so long?" I decided to ask him.

"When the evil caught up with me, they changed me. People stopped noticing me, and the ones that did see me, got killed by me." He answered in an enigmatic voice.

I know what he meant, it was my life. For centuries I had to watch my people die by the hands of lycans too long have I had to stand by not being able to change my faith or the faith of those I love. But no longer.. I shook my head, this was no time for ancient vendettas, I was dealing with a serious problem here. This stranger was obviously no mere mortal but he wasn't one of us either.

"I don't know what you are, you're not a Lycan, and you're not one of us either. Although you seem to have the same strength as us." I said hoping to get a response from him that would lead me more to what the nature of his being might be.

"What's a Lycan, and who is us? There's more of you?" He replied, looking sincerely surprised.

"My name is Nathalka, you seem like a stranger in these lands" I said as I started checking my wounds seeing that most of them had already healed completely.

"I am, I am here on a mission" he said than pausing for a few minutes and continuing "Nathalka, sounds Russian."

"That's exactly what everybody else thinks" I replied _heck, I'm not even going to begin to explain that my name isn't even from this world let alone Russian._

"I'm sorry" he apologized "I've been alone as long as I can remember, I think I have lost some of my 'people skills"

His comment made me laugh inside, cause despite of what he might think he wasn't really dealing with 'people'. I snapped out of the moment. I needed to focus on business that laid ahead_. I couldn't leave him be it was too dangerous he was obviously not one of her kind but he wasn't Lycan either. I need to bring him back to the Mansion, he could be a powerful ally, if not we could always kill him along the way. _

"You need to come with me" I said, trying to sound even more serious than before. He needed to trust me he needed to come with me to Olavinlinna so I could explain.. so he could explain..

"I don't know if I should, like I said, I work best on my own" He said, clearly not yet willing to trust me. How can I blame him I myself am still contemplating how to kill him if things don't work out.

But him being part of some greater plan I couldn't leave him on the streets, a because lycans would tear him into little shreds the moment they will lay eyes on him. Lycans smell his non mortal smell from 100 meters way. And because we could use him, and he could use us.

"Look, it's a frakkin' miracle that you survived it on your own for so long" I snapped at him "You can choose, either I kill you because you know too much, or you join me". This wasn't an invite this was a pure thread.

The alarm of my watch bleeped, I ran up my sleeve to check it. _Frak only 2 hours till daylight and I still need to get back to the Mansion. _

I knew there were safe houses around Helsingfors but I didn't look forward being locked up with a complete stranger in a small ,but daylight free, container.

"Okay we need to hurry here, daylight is on it's way" I said as I stood up from the ground and clearing my leather coat from any street dirt or blood stains that might have gotten on. I cleared the dried blood from where used to be the wounds, everything healed nicely, cracked my neck and was ready to go.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked in a futile attempt to keep some grip over the situation.

"Olavinlinna, our Mansion. Its located to the north east about an hour drive from here" I answered not sure if I could trust him enough to give him the full coordinates, ever since Ordoghaz burned down our kind has been more and more protective over our homes.

I started walking out of the alley, I knew I had parked my car near the Tuomiokirkko. I watched as he picked himself up from the floor, clearly not yet as healed as I was. I looked at him, I was intrigued by this creature. _What is he ?_ The Idea that I didn't know what, or who he was made me feel both frightened and intrigued.

We took a left turn and I noticed the snow started to fall. _Winter has started._ I thought to myself. _And its always a long winter up here. With only little sunlight… just the way I like it. _I laughed in myself.

After another block I got sight of my car, a black Ferrari Scaglietti, my favorite, it moved quick and swift through the night as all death dealers were supposed to. I opened the doors.

"Get in" I urged my stranger. Olavinlinna was still quite a drive and the sun was coming up in less than two hours. Lucky for me he did as I told him to and got into the car with me.

I started the car and made way out of the city. As we were driving along the high way I noticed he still hadn't spoken to me. Hadn't asked me any questions on where I was from. I liked it this way, I was used to be on my own talking about myself wasn't one of the things that I loved to do so for him being quiet was a total blessing. Perhaps he was just thinking, like I was. It was a lot of information to process all at once.

As I was thinking I noticed he was staring at me. It made me feel uncomfortable_. Stop staring or I'm going to hurt you_. I thought to myself. As if he could read my mind he turned his face away to stare out of the window once again. It wasn't long until the big black gates of Olavinlinna appeared in the distance. I reached for a sensor on my dashboard, pressed it and opened the gate. I pulled the car up front of the building_, I so have the best parking spot,_ I laughed to myself.

"We're here" I said as I unbuckled my seatbelt. I heard him do the same and got out of the car. My stranger stood there clearly moved by the magnitude of this building. I had lived in it for centuries but it continued to impressed me still every time I came home from a night work.

I pushed the big oak doors open _home sweet home _I thought.

The reception was a big round room with two big oak wooden staircases on both sides of the room. The two staircases leaded up to a renaissance styled balcony which held passage to the rooms of the inhabitants of the great fortress. The rest of the reception was filled with big sofa like chairs all in crimson red color, tapestries hung from the walls and one of the walls was decorated with coats, mantels and the matching shoes beneath them. _Even though we are immortal and got all the time in the world we would like to spend it otherwise than cleaning snow stained shoe prints from the floor. _I remembered explaining the weird phenomenal to a newcomer once.

In the reception hall we were greeted by the lord of the Mansion. He was tall about 1.90 had long grey hair soft green eyes and he wore a dark purple gown. If you looked into his eyes you could see he was old, and not only by mortal standards. He was the eldest of the Northern vampire clan and ruler of this house.

"Terve Miika, Mitta kuuluu?" I asked in an as innocent voice as I possibly could. I knew he would be mad, the rest of my squad would have made It back 2 hours ago. I bet he was worried.

" Sinä olet myöhässä!"Miika interrupted me without answering my question.

"I know I know I'm late" I replied to him in a language also understandable to my strange guest.

"The rest of the dealers have returned about 2 hours ago! What took you so long!" Miika continued his rant until he noticed my guest. "And who is he?!"

"Miika calm down" I tried to sooth him. I knew the only reason he was so upset with me was because he cares deeply about me. Ever since my family died he had been there taking care of me, he was like a father figure to me and me, his daughter being home late of course didn't please him at all.

"I think we need a place to sit and .. talk" ….


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

I stood there, in the corner of the room, like a school child who misbehaved.

I felt left out. Left out… I have been alone for the last 10 years, and now I feel left out. _This is too strange, maybe I should just leave while I still can. _

My thoughts went berserk.

_What kind of language were they speaking, who is he, what's a Miika, what's the story between these two people. Where the frak am I?_

Nathalka was strangled in a discussion with what seemed to be her superior.

I knew that she brought me to this place without permission, and now she needed to convince that man of her right. They looked at me several times. It looked like they were talking gossip behind my back. I started to feel really uncomfortable, and asked myself how the hell I got caught up in this strange situation. My life was good, everything was as planned, and nothing interfered with those plans. I just walked over the street, enjoying the depressing weather, and then this happened.

I stood in the open doorway, we hadn't even bothered to come in completely yet.

A sunray sneaked through the doorway and fell on my face. It felt warm and was sharp in my eyes. I wondered how such a little ray of light could be so strong at the beginning of dawn. Nature worked just as mysterious as the well feared God.

I was lost in my thoughts for a little while. When I returned to earth, the man was standing in front of me. I scared and felt intimidated. He pushed me inside into the reception hall.

The man looked at me and reached out his hand into the sunlight to shut the door.

I saw the pale skin, the smooth perfect texture on it. No scars, no spots, just… white skin.

But then I saw that perfect baby-like skin change. It started to smolder and it burned. The red hot skin dripped of his hand like burning silk.

The man hissed with anger and pain. When his mouth opened, I could see two fangs in his mouth. His tongue looked like it had a spine and a rib-cage.

I looked into his eyes, I didn't want to stare at him, but when I saw his eyes, they were turned pitch black. The life had moved out of his eyes. There wasn't even death or blindness, there was nothing left. With a big bang he shut the door.

"NEVER, leave the door open" the man spoke. I saw Nathalka laugh and if I'm not mistaking I heard her whisper "Newbie" to me only to make her grin even wider.

The man then spoke, in a deep voice.

"Who are you. What are you doing in our house" he said.

I didn't know how to reply, I was invited, I didn't want to see this at all. I felt small and unimportant.

After too much hesitation I said: "I don't know who I am or what I am, neither do I know what your house is all about. Either you keep me here, or kill me. Do what you please."

The man smiled. He turned towards Nathalka, and spoke in that same gibberish as before.

Nathalka looked at me.

"He says that I have done good. You could be very important to our kind. Come, I'll take you to your room"

"Please tell me what this is all about. What kind of language were you speaking, give me a goddamn reason to trust you. I'm still human, it's human to fear the unknown, and right now, I fear you" I spoke those words with too much anger in my voice. It wasn't right, but it wasn't right to apologize about it either. She would understand, or she wouldn't, I couldn't care less.

I just wondered one thing.

_Why the frak, was I so intimidated by her, and why did I do everything she asked me!_

She smiled at me, and said: "I'll earn your trust when the time comes. I didn't kill you didn't I? Not yet at least"

It was a vague attempt at humor, but it didn't work.

I knew suddenly why I obeyed her so well, like a trained dog.

I liked her.

She was the first one ever to dominate me, the first one ever to have the same strength, to talk in my language, to see me walking.

The first one that made an impression on me in a long, long time.

"Follow me please" She said. She didn't ask, I knew she didn't have to, she knew it too.

I walked a meter behind her, it was a great distance to see her well trained body. Her long leather coat got carried by the draft in the chill hallway. My clothes were still wet from the rain and the snow outside, going with her I was at least hoping for a dry and warm place but this place was not much warmer than the freezing cold outside! The hallway was like a cathedral, there were crosses, pictures of saints and heroes, and passages in an unknown language to me, were carved into the ceiling.

The more I looked at Nathalka, the longer the hall looked.

Her legs were covered in leather. It was like a spare skin covered her body. It showed her feminine features, but also the tough look of a woman whom you did not want to mess with.

Her long legs ended in a beautifully shaped backside. Too bad she still wore her coat. I wanted to see more of that mysterious woman. She made a deep impact on me, and I liked it.

She then turned around to me. I still had my eyes focused on her behind, so when she turned, I stared at her front, which wasn't too subtle and polite. I raised my eyes and noticed that she had unbuttoned her coat. I could see a leather cat suit covering her entire body. She had a well trained upper body, a tight stomach, her breasts were concealed by leather. The black fabric ended up in her neck, like it needed to keep her skin safe. I could understand it if she was as vulnerable as that intimidating man.

Her arms were thin, and I wondered how she could pack such a punch with those arms. I was a small little bastard, but she was something else.

"Seen enough?" She asked again with that girlish grin of hers. Her dark brown eyes staring right at me.

"Nope, but I'll wait until you want to strip for me, don't want to force you into something you don't want to do" I said addressing her sense of humor I felt proud, I got a big part of my guts back.

"I broke your nose before. I could break more of your body, something you like more than that big gob in the middle of your face" She threatened.

"I deserved that one" I said.

She smiled, and opened a door.

"Your room, it's dark, there's just one light, the switch is next to the door, a single bed, a sink, toilet, shower, no windows, no heating, I don't want to hear you bitch because we don't have anything more than you do right now." She said with good strength in her voice.

I walked into the room, and looked around. I felt the light switch next to the door, and flipped it.

A small light barely lit the room enough to see where I needed to piss in. I hoped it would give enough light for me to aim too.

The bed was made up with red sheets. It looked clean, I didn't expect anything else. The whole room was clean and perfectly suitable to sleep in. Although, no windows, no heating, It was quite comfortable.

"Thank you, I really mean it." I said to Nathalka.

"I know you do, you're not a complete asshole" She said to me. She smiled and walked away. The door fell shut behind her.

I wondered by myself; _Why are they so afraid of light, what can it to do them, would it burn them like that bloke, and why. _

I let my body fell on the bed. I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

I remember having a dream about Nathalka. I never thought the first woman after living in solitary so long would have such a big impact.

She was tough, strong, dominant, smart, and frakking hot…


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I walked out of the spare room Id just given to my mysterious stranger. Walking downstairs again to meet with Miika I ran into a young looking boy.

"Markus! Look out where you're going dude!' I hissed at him.

"I'm sorry sis, I got to go" he yelled over his shoulder. After that he quickly yelled "Car Please"

He smiled his devious when he looked at me.

"Markus I swear, If I find as much as a scratch on it, you're dead!" I threatened him as I tossed him my car keys. We both aged enormously but we never let go of the brother verses. sister fights.

"I can't dieeeeeee" he yelled happily as he shot into his coat.

"O you will when I am through with you!" I smiled. He was the only biological family I had left and just because of that I was crazy enough to let him drive my car.

I turned around and I saw Miika gesturing me to come to the lounge with him. As I dropped myself into one of our comfortable chairs he tossed me a bag of plasma

"Feed" he urged me. "I don't want to get you hungry and decide you want to sink your little fangs into our stranger" he smiled. Miika could be intimidating but the truth was he was just an old softy at heart.

"I can control my urges" I said to Miika, not sure if he was just joking or more serious.

"I know my child" He soothed. "And now you know he might be the one I trust you will be even more careful"

I tore a hole in my plasma filled bag with my razor sharp fang so I could drink from it.

"Just because you're a vampire doesn't mean you're a savage! We do have glasses you know" Miika said in a futile attempt to slam some manners into me. I admired his persistence, cause even after 300 years he still hadn't given up.

"Hate the dishes" I said between sips. I saw the old man shake his head. Knowing what he was thinking 'She'll never learn'. When I finished I stood up to discard my empty plastic bag. The old man raised as well.

"It's well past sunrise, we should get some sleep"

Unlike what most think vampire so need sleep. Not for their bodies since they don't get tired. But their minds work like human minds and need rest to process all the information given.

"You're right, Good night" I hugged the old man and went upstairs to my room.

When I opened the door my own room welcomed me. For a messy headed young vampire the room was very sober and neat. A double bed, wardrobe and a big dark wooden desk with my laptop was all there was in my room.

I dumped my coat in my chair, unzipped my boots and kicked them off. Unclipped my gun belt and my filthy leathers went into my laundry basked. _I should do some laundry one of these days._ I slipped into my bathrobe than set way to my bathroom to take a much needed shower to scrub off the blood and mud leftovers.

We might be cold blooded but there's nothing more refreshing than a warm shower.

After my shower I dried myself and got into my sleeping gown. Left the bathroom and went to bed.

Around 15:00 I woke up again. The sun wasn't down yet but I was safe inside with my curtains drawn. I got up to refresh myself and slipped into a fresh set of leathers. The fabric crackling as I got dressed. I left my room and went downstairs where I ran into some of the other death dealers who were clearly debating on if and how I had died.

"I'm sorry to spoil the fun guys but I'm still here" I laughed in a sarcastic voice.

"We knew you'd make it back, you're our little miracle worker" A tall male blonde vampire named Lars said.

"You might know" a slender beautiful girl named Lara started "there are rumors of you bringing a human into our house"

"That's true" I said calmly "we think he might be very valuable to our kind, but we're not completely sure yet"

Just as I said this my stranger walked into the lounge. He was wearing a set of leathers that belonged to Markus. I could tell since they were a little oversized. He still looked good, for a human that is, with his raven black hair and piercing blue eyes. And his pale skin almost made him look like one of us.

"Morning" I greeted him "hope you slept well, despite the cold" I smiled.

"Yeah the room is fine" he answered clearly not at ease with all the others staring at him.

I cleared my throat hoping the others would get the hint. Fortunately they did and went about their own business.

"Sistah, how was your beauty sleep? It didn't do you any good I can see cause you're still ugly!!" He laughed at his own joke. With a bored face I introduced my younger brother

"This is Markus my most charming little brother" I said sarcastically.

Markus smiled "And this must be our mystery man" he laughed

"Ok smart ass go make yourself useful elsewhere "I instructed and he started to walk away.  
"Markus…. Keys please" he threw my keyset over his shoulder and miraculous enough, I caught them.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't get around the moose in time" He said

"Not funny!" I shouted back as he left the room.

"My brother" I explained "was turned in puberty, and he never got over it" I sighed.

My stranger looked puzzled

"Turned?" He asked

"I'm afraid I got a lot of explaining to do.. " I bit my lower lip "And you must be hungry. I'm sorry we don't have any human food here.." Again my stranger looked completely puzzled. "Sundown is in an hour we can go to town and get you some food and talk" I suggested.

"A good idea" he agreed.

An hour later we found ourselves in my ( unharmed ) car again and on our way to Savonlinna.

"Don't worry, tomorrow I'll ask Markus to bring some food when he goes into town"

I pulled up behind a restaurant that served all kinds of takeout food.

"If it's okay with you I will wait here. Dealing with mortals isn't my specialty" I smiled sheepish. He was in fact the first mortal I had encountered in ages.

He got out of the car and I looked for a place to park. When I got back he just walked out of the diner with a plastic bag in his hand.

"I see you succeeded. I know a great place we can sit, talk and.. you… can eat" I felt grossed out only thinking of normal food. Since it is dangerous for our kind my body developed a strong anti reaction to any form of human food.

"Yeah, Chinese food. It's simple, fast but always delicious" he smiled.

I took him down to the pier near the lake, It was deserted in wintertime's.

I sat down and dangled my legs over the edge.

The water below me was rushing up shore. It wasn't cold enough to freeze yet but that wouldn't take much longer.

My stranger sat down beside me and opened his plastic bag.

The smell emanating from the bag nearly made my stomach turn over. I looked the other way and tried to deeply inhale fresh air.

"Not a fan of Chinese are you?" he asked while he started to eat.

"No, not a fan of human food at all" I said as I forced my face into a smile.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I devoured the food like a savage who'd lived on bark for months.

The grease was dripping out of the packages, and the noodles were flying around like Christmas decorations.

I wanted to know some truth out of my pretty companion, it looked like I wouldn't get rid of her for a long time.

"So" I said with my mouth full, "What's your story, what's your history?"

Nathalka answered abrupt like she had been practicing for this question.

"I was born about 300 years ago in western Europe. I lived with my family. My mother, father, brother, and two younger sisters—"

"Wow, 300 years ago? You were born in the early 18th century? How the hell is that possible!"  
I shouted, I didn't even asked, I just freaked.

Nathalka looked at me with irritation in her eyes.

"If you'd just let me finish!

One night our village was attacked, that was the night I was turned … made a vampire…"

I looked at her with disbelieve.

"Vampires, blood sucking freaks who live in the night and steal people from the face of the earth?"

Right now, I was just pissing her off, and I was doing it on purpose. Just to feel in power, feel mighty again.

Nathalka told the story with a calm voice. She was expecting this kind of reaction from me.

"You must understand we are not all monsters. Most of the covens live under a code not to harm mortals. But there are those who feel superior to mortals and see them as nothing more than food. That is what happened to my family. They bled them dry. After they were finished with the rest, they started with me and my brother but they were interrupted by members of the Western European coven. The bite didn't killed us but it did turn us. My brother Markus made less of a transition that's why he's a light walker, he can go out in the daylight without getting his skin burned off. There are very few light walkers, in your coven alone there are only three, Markus, Liisa and Kristan."

I saw in her eyes she was struggling with the emotion of her memories. There was a sadness of old in her eyes I had never seen in a living creature before.

This wasn't easy for her, and I didn't make it any easier.

I wondered about the covens, it meant that they were everywhere around this world. How could I be so blind and stupid not to notice!

I was fighting a lost cause, I was all alone. Those covens are here for centuries, maybe millenniums, and they didn't even wipe out all the evil in this world. How on earth could I have done it on my own.

"Who was that man at the mansion? Why did he burn when entered the sunlight?"

I asked Nathalka. A lot of my questions were answered, but even more questions had risen.

Nathalka started talking again.

"Because our sires were killed, my brother and me were accepted into the Western European coven which headquarters lied within Amsterdam. They fed us, of course only blood since normal food would be lethal. They gave us a new name, a new home, a new life. Miika was one of the death dealers at that time. Death Dealers are the chosen vampires who hunt down the Lycans. It's a sort of a license to kill, a 00 secret agent status. Lycans are werewolves, in your words.

The earliest were so angry, they couldn't change back to human form. They started slaying people and turned them into other Lycans. They acted purely out of rage, without instinct, without a conscious."

I knew what I was fighting. I knew the evil wolf-like creatures that ravaged the cities at night.

But I also knew, that this wasn't the beginning nor the end of it all. It was far from the entire story.

"I was trained to hunt down the Lycans. After generations of wolves, they started to adapt themselves to the environment. The newer generations learned to control their rage and were able to turn back to human form. They were still filthy evil creatures who could now roam the cities in human form to strike down unsuspecting humans and feast on their flesh. Being born a mortal I took these assaults very personal. After the Great War ended 150 years ago and most of the lycans were killed or laid low, we started noticing activity in the Norse lands. Miika went home to defend his own land. Me and Markus went with him because where Miika went, we went. And that's when I became the leader of his squad."

I was completely astonished by this all. It was so huge, it was so strange. It was also very secret. None of the normal human beings could ever see any of these creatures, good nor evil.

She turned her gaze toward me it was an intimidating gaze but still you couldn't look away from it.

'Tell me about yourself' she said. 'I know you don't remember much but what have you been doing in the time that you can remember. I need to understand who I'm dealing with'

It was time to tell my story. My life, those few years that I'm around and doing my thing, is nothing compared to what Nathalka had been through. I hesitated, felt ashamed to tell about my life, because it was so much less then hers. I was expandable, she wasn't.

"As long as I can remember, I have been able to see more darkness then light. I was frightened for it in my childhood. My parents did what every other parent would do. They made it worse.

I had to go in therapy, and got hospitalized. Me being a 9 year old kid, I was terrified. My emotions made it all worse. The last bits of light disappeared in the world, and the light in me grew stronger. I was determined not to become part of the darkness. I would not become that what I feared so much."

I looked at Nathalka. I was afraid for a boring look in her eyes. Why would she be genuinely interested in my life story! But against all expectations, she looked at me with pure interest. I continued my story after a couple of uncomfortable silent seconds.

"I never really spoke to my parents, when they came to visit, I'd keep my mouth shut. How should I know that those moments were the last times I'd ever get to talk to them.

A fire broke out in a winter night. Snow was falling down so hard, that the fire engines couldn't reach the hospital. The standard fire extinguishers weren't enough to put out the entire fire.

My wing, the psychic section A, completely burned down. I was in the middle of it.

I didn't hope to be rescued, I hoped this was an end to the dark world. How ironic would it be, to be relieved from darkness, by the heat and light of fire. Though, something came through the roof. It really smashed through it, grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the fire. I couldn't see what it was, but I knew it was part of the darkness. I knew it because I felt 5 sharp long nails being buried in my shoulders, the scars are still there. The pain was too much for me to bear, so I passed out. I expected myself to wake up in a hospital, but I didn't expect it to be empty. When I woke up, there was nothing, not even an IV or heart monitor attached to my body. My wounds were healed, so I had to be there for some time. I stumbled out of my bed, and walked through the empty hospital."

"I know where this is heading" Nathalka said

"Even now, the lycans have underground hospitals to treat their sick and wounded, and test on normal humans."

I was astonished. After so long, I finally knew what really happened. They didn't bite me, they didn't turn me, they tested me…

"So, probably, I was a test subject gone wrong. I've got many of their strengths, but almost none of their weakness. I don't turn into a wolf, I don't have an uncontrollable rage, and I'm most definitely not evil.

After that night, I learned to control my strength. I learned to leap giant chasms, jump onto buildings, hit through walls and to control my spiritual strength. It was the start of many, many lonely years to come. Years in which I thought I was on my own, I couldn't and didn't want to find my way back into the normal world. I wanted to make sure no other people got lost in the place where I was."

The night passed and we talked about our lives, our missions and our wars. When her watch beeped again I sighed and said 'On the run for daylight again?'

'Yeah.. let's go' she said. 'We're in no hurry though, the mansion isn't far'

We got up and walked towards the car and when we reached it we got in.

We hadn't driven far when I saw a dark figure in the middle of the road.

'Frak' I heard Nathalka hiss next to me. 'Get down' she urged when she reached for her gun and opened the car door. I noticed that I was scared as hell. I liked the fear, it was a completely new rush. It was like seeing a horror movie without your parents knowing it, and with you knowing that it's really way to scary to watch.

She got out of the car and opened fire on the dark figure in front of our car.

With a frightening inhuman agility it dodged her bullets and drew out its own gun and fired back at her.

She dodged them as well but two bullets hit her in her abdominal.

'O gods she's hit!' my impulses raced my brain. I needed to get us out of here and fast.

The dark figure threw away its gun and roared an inhuman guttural roar.

'Lycan…' my mind made over time. I never uncounted a werewolf like this before.

The lycan charged forward and gave Nathalka a push with its immortal strength.

Nathalka flew through the air and landed 5 meters away on her back.

I charged the lycan from behind, plunging a small dagger I always carried with me into its back.

The beast roared furiously and threw me over its shoulder making me land painfully hard on my back.

His claws tried to dig their way into my chest but luckily I managed to roll away as his sharp claws scratched the brick city floor. The sound made the hairs on my arm stand up.

Quickly I jumped to my feet. _Why did I leave my gun at the mansion? _I wondered.

Because you usually don't get attacked while going for Chinese food…. well perhaps a stomach virus but not a more than 2 meter high wolf man!

I threw a punch but his enormous claw easily caught my hand before it hit home. With a twist and a sickening crack I realized he broke my wrist. I couldn't suppress a scream of agony.

With my still healthy hand I smashed into the beasts face which made him let go of my hand.

I fell to the floor and instinctively I grabbed my broken wrist.

I looked at Nathalka, She was standing up, and looked at her car. She was looking at her frakking car! That stupid black machine, why was that so important!

Just as I thought he would get me I heard gun shots. The beast roared in pain and I saw bullets making their way through it's forehead.

With a big slam it fell to the floor and in horror I watched as its feral form changed back into a human form. It still had the same gun wounds in his forehead and a bleeding nose from when I hit him.

Behind the gone monster stood Nathalka, nose bleeding and bleeding from two gun wounds but still very much alive. I looked up at her and saw she was having a hard time breathing. _Go figure with two bullets in your gut._

'Are you okay?' She asked clearly looking concerned.

'I think it's broken' I said as I looked down at my wrist.

'What took you so damn long?'

Nathalka looked angry at me.

'I've got 2 bullets in my abdomen, and the bastard shot my car 3 times! 3 damn times! I had to kill him just for that!'

Nathalka grabbed my wrist with both her hands, the pain went through my system causing a wave of nausea. I had to breathe in deep not to lose my dinner.

'It's broken but not out of place' She said as she moved away. She dragged herself back to the car and opened the back door. She quickly found what she was looking for and tossed me a piece of cloth.

'Tie this around your neck, your arm needs rest'

I did what she told me and made an improvised triangle bandage.

"Thanks for the help! What if he didn't shot your car?!" I yelled at her.

"Then we would have had some more fun" She answered and smiled a sly smile.

I really pissed her off this time. Although I knew that she was trained in this sort of thing, and that one lycan would not win it from a vampire and me, but I had never been in this position before. And to think that this is only the beginning of something much weirder.

She walked back to the lycan and with great effort she picked him up and put him in the trunk of his car.

_'Cant leave a mess'_ she smiled a painful smile.

She sat herself down on the back seat with her legs outside the car.

I stood up and walked towards her as she took her coat and the top of her leathers off.

Underneath she wore a black tank top and just as I began to notice how fragile her posture actually was I noticed two streams of thick blood running down her abdomen and two holes.

One just beneath her left breast and the other about 20 cm below the first one.

She was sweating, probably due to the pain. _It's a frakking miracle she didn't pass out yet._

She reached for a dagger she carried in her right boot.

While she handed me the dagger she said: 'I need you to dig the bullets out' As if it were nothing special.

'But I never…. I can't just…' I was lost for words, _she did NOT just ask me to perform an operation on a living human! …. Well… vampire… but still!_

'Look, we need to get them out before the wound heals with the bullets still inside and I would need surgery. I can do it myself but I can't see it that well so it would leave a tremendous mess so…. For my sake please do it' she asked while I heard her breathing becoming more irregular.

I took the knife from her hand and she arched her back so I had more space to work.

'You just stick the knife in the wound under the bullet and pop it out' She instructed as if it were nothing special at all.

I lowered the blade with an unsteady hand towards her stomach, still unsure if I was actually going to do this.

The tip of the knife made contact with the first bullet wound and I felt a jolt go through Nathalka's body.

_I should do this as swift as possible not frakking around longer than I have to._

With new found determination I pressed the blade into her wound. I saw her struggle to keep a pain cry inside. Instead a high pitched shriek came from her pressed closed lips.

The tip of the blade hit something hard and I wiggled it around to get the knife underneath.

The wound started to bleed more severe as I pressed down the knifes handle so the tip with the bullet came out.

I heard her let out a sigh of relief when she saw I had the first bullet in my hand.

She breath in deep before I continued to get the second bullet out. Her face was even more pale than normally and little pearls of sweat were all over her forehead.

I inserted the blade for the second time, searching for the other bullet, this one deeper than the previous one. I couldn't get it out completely with the blade so I used my index finger and thumb to get it out the last bit.

'I got it' I said still shocked with what I just did. Her blood was everywhere over my hands over the back seat and whether I liked it or not…. on my coat as well… _they better have great washing rooms at the mansion….._

Her legs where shaking due to the blood loss and she had to struggle to stay conscious.

'O.. okay… you need to drive back I don't think I'm in any condition the drive' She said as I found a first aid kid and used the bandage from it to stop the bleeding of her bullet wounds.

She dragged herself deeper in the car so I could close the back door and got in front.

_Okay driving a car... It's been a while… but I'm sure I can still do it__… even with one arm. _I turned the key and the car started. I noticed the car required little driving skills since it practically drove itself.

Nathalka told me the route instructions and without a lot of trouble I drove us back to Olavinlinna without other problems… at least, that's what I thought….


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

When I parked the car in front of the mansion I turned around to see how Nathalka was doing. She wasn't conscious any more. And a big puddle of blood lied on the bottom of the back seat.

_Shit, I thought vampires had these great healing skills why aren't the wounds healed by now_? I thought as I got out of the car. I opened the back door and slipped my wounded arm out of the bandage. _This will hurt…_ I figured as much. I dragged Nathalka out of the car and carried her up the front steps of the mansion, her body hanging limp in my arms.

I pushed against the door, her blood was running over my coat. Why weren't her wounds healing?

I shouted for help when I was in the hallway. The door closed behind me, stopping the cold wind from entering the building. It wasn't quite warm inside, not but a few degrees more than outside, the snow didn't melt on the floor.

Five vampires were rushing towards me. I keep calling them vampires in my head, I don't have enough respect or knowledge about them to stop giving them that stereotype name.

Although I tried to do my best and earn enough respect and trust with them, they kept me out of everything.

The vampires pulled Nathalka out of my arms. The only thing that showed that I carried her inside from the car, was her dried blood on my face, hands and clothes.

I felt uncomfortable, I was worried. I removed the bullets with a knife, what went wrong, what did I do wrong?

Miika came towards me. He did not speak to me, he just looked at me like I was the one who already killed Nathalka.

'What the hell is going on, what happened to Nathalka, please speak to me!' I asked in a panicked voice.

'You'll know what you need to know, follow me, I cannot explain but I can show' He said to me with his low voice and his mysterious accent. It scared the crap out of me every time I heard it!

I followed them up, up over those hard, cold steps of the long stairways. This is insane, they were carrying my only link to the truth, and that link was dying!

When we came to the end of the stairs, two of the vampires opened two huge wooden doors. They were locked with chains, it was clearly visible that nobody could enter unless it was necessary.

When opened, they carried Nathalka in and laid her down on a large table. The room was white, there were three operation tables, and instead of anesthetics, there was a wall of blood. Bags filled with all kinds of blood.

One of the vampires got a key from Miika, and opened another door at the end of the room.

He came back with four bags of blood.

'She needs special blood, when we give her blood from an ordinary vampire or human, she can't heal' Miika told me.

'Why not' I asked. 'I've learned that it worked with all kinds of blood'

'She has been shot with UV bullets, not only her body was wounded, but her soul. They got to her core, she needs blood from the vampire that bit her. Her sire as we call them' He said to me while injecting IV blood drips to Nathalka's arms.

'That is insane, that means that there need to be bags filled with blood from every vampire who'd bitten someone. That's just too much!' I replied, once again, I got questions instead of answers.

Miika looked at me, he understood the question, he saw that I started to think in their ways.

'When you get hurt by UV bullets, it hits you from the inside, not the outside, you're really badly hurt then. Nine out of ten vampires die after this, we let them die, because it's too much work to heal them. Only the strongest and most important vampires get this treatment. That's how it's stated in the covenant.' He said in a serious voice, his eyes shimmering with his concern.

'Does Nathalka know that she's that important?' I asked

'She will when she wakes up' He said as he looked down sorrowful at Nathalka's lifeless form.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Darkness, fire, death.

I heard a soothing voice which slowly made my horror dreamscape make way for a bright light.

I blinked my eyes rapidly at the annoying bright light that shone right above my head and welcomed me back to this world.

I blinked my eyes a few time more, the light stinging like needles in my eyes.

I felt warm, no hot, as if my skull was on fire.

"Relax, It's okay" I heard someone say while I felt a cold cloth of my forehead soothing my aching head.

" Good morning" I heard the familiar voice next to me.

When I moved my upper body I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach and remembered what had happened.

"This is the first time you're awake since eight days." The familiar strangers voice told me. My eyes were still not used to the light enough to be able to see him.

" Eight days?" I asked in confusion. I knew what had happened but I didn't realize what it meant yet.

"Yes, eight days. But you've healed nicely the past couple of days" He said.

"Is that you?" I asked, not sure if my ears were playing tricks on me since I wasn't able to see much in the over lighted room. For all I knew I could have been kidnapped by Lycans.

The answer was the one I expected, and made m feel comfortable again.

"You got a name for me yet?" He said.

"What happened? Where's Miika and where the Hell am I?" I asked as my eyes got used to the light and I saw I wasn't in my room or in any room I remembered from the Mansion. It was the first time I had some questions about my life and I could only ask the stranger.

"Miika told me that you were hit by UV bullets, and that you needed blood from the vampire that bit you to heal… you're sire" He said as if this was something he knew about for ages.

The words hit me like bricks when he said them. There was blood of the vampire that bit me, in this building, that means that…

"IV bullets, that means.. I mean I have.." I tried to say my brain totally disorganized with the new amount of information.

"It means that you're important enough to save, even when you're hit by UV bullets, Miika will explain the rest" He ensured me.

He finished my sentence and I knew that ended the conversation. I looked at my stranger, there was more peace in his face as if he knew where he was now, where he stood in life. This gave him a bright radiant aura of light

"When can I get up?" I asked.

"Miika said you'd have to lay on the blood-IV for five more days. Relax, get some rest" The man said to me.

As he said so I felt nauseas again and I felt the darkness pull me back again. I didn't want to go to sleep. I was afraid of the nightmares they brought. They were haunted, not my own. They were my murdering sire's blood memories. For the first time in 300 years I was actually really scared.

Houses were burning, young women screaming.

I didn't want to see this but I was unable to shake the images off.

They were the blood memories of my sire, the murderer of my family.

Vampires were the cause of the commotion in the village.

Blood stained white snow and drained bodies lied around as wasted garbage.

_Just as my parents_ I thought.

A white light came from behind, chasing away the darkness that ad crept over the village.

Never did the dream end like this. I heard a wolves cry, but not like the regular lycans cry.

A white wolf surrounded by bright white light chased away the scary and confrontational images from my dream.

_It was him, it was the stranger, my pelastaja_


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Miika called me into his… well, his office really. I didn't know what I should call it. Maybe it was best described as a lair.

I knocked on a giant wooden door. The M was carved into the wood in the middle of the door. Also, this door had several inscriptions in an ancient language. I reminded myself to learn it.

"Come in" Miika said through the door.

As I pushed, the door opened without a sound, not even a little sigh of draft or wind.

"Close the door behind you please"

I closed the door, behind me. I heard it click. I expect it fell into the lock. I couldn't get out. I felt cold sweat on my spine.

"Take a seat, don't stand there like an idiot"

I sat down on a large chair and looked around the room. The room wasn't that big. It was high. It was about 5 meters high with walls covered in the same language as on the door.

There was a large red carpet on the floor, with a huge wooden desk in the middle of it. There was throne behind it where Miika sat on. The throne was made of wood, metal and gold, and was decorated with demon heads carved out of wood. It matched with the desk. The desk was decorated with screaming heads. It was really disturbing to see all this. The room was as mysterious, grotesque and intimidating as Miika himself was.

"What are those languages" I asked Miika.

"They are spells, spells to keep the dark out and the light in this room. It makes sure that the Lycans can't hear us or keeps any other entity from entering the room without permission." He said.

"Why did you call me here?" I asked him. I was asking too many questions.

"While Nathalka is on the intensive care, I decided to, well, test your strength. You're resistant to sunlight, UV and all other things that can kill us, and I want to see if you do have our strength."

I got scared now, My eyes opened wide.

"Don't be scared. You're a guest in my house, I let you in, don't hesitate about anything" If I wanted you dead you would have been dead by now.

Those words calmed me down a little bit.

"If you flinch, you die"

Miika jumped up onto the desk, and kicked me in my face. I fell backwards with my chair, and smashed against the ground. I learned the hard way, that the floor wasn't made out of wood, but concrete.

I jumped up and looked at Miika.

"You're pathetic!" He yelled at me. "You'll never be as strong as us!" He opened his mouth, fangs exposed and he hissed at me.

I jumped onto the desk, and smashed my fist on his temple. He flew to the left, and hit the wall. The wall crushed when his back hit it, and debris was flying through the room.  
I walked off the desk towards Miika who was lying on the ground. I Looked down upon him and raised my foot, ready to land the bottom of it on his face.

At that moment, he grabbed my foot and swung me around the room. He didn't let go, my head bashed into the various pieces of furniture that filled the room.

Miika loosened his grip, and I flew against the wooden door, breaking it out of its joints.

It had a huge dent in it, formed to my head.

This time, I started to feel the pain in my head like a red hot coal was smoldering inside it.

I got up, ran towards Miika and punched him again. His hand came up, and grabbed my fist out of the air.

His speed was enormous, I admired it. I grinned at him, and tried to hit him with my other hand. He grabbed that one too.

I noticed that I forgot that it had been broken, and heard it snap again. The pain wasn't as much as the last time, but nonetheless, it was unpleasant.

I jumped up, placed my left foot on his chest, and smashed my right foot in his face. He let go of me, and flew backwards against the wall.

Immediately I rushed towards him, but he jumped up to the wall. Like a spider he was hanging from the wall.

I looked up with astonishment at him.

He jumped right over me, turned around and kicked me in the back.

My god this man could pack a punch. I didn't want to get up anymore.

"Come on you bastard! What good are you to us when you can't even stand on your own feet! You need to learn to walk again? You need me to teach you? You need me to teach you how to ride a bike too? How to speak and write? How to love a woman? You didn't got rescued in the fire! Your parents left you to die! They didn't even came searching for you! They were ashamed of you!"

How the frak did Miika know all this! What the hell was he doing!? I got pissed, I got angry, I got frakking furious. I screamed my lungs out, clenched my teeth and fell the blood flow out of my gums.

I ran towards Miika and started to hit and kick him like an angry kid in the playground. Miika fell down, and I saw the blood spurting out of his nose. I kicked him to the left, and saw him fly through the room again. I jumped, and reached a height of 3 meters before coming down again. When I did came down, I landed with my knee in Miika's abdomen. I heard him gasp for air, but I didn't stop. I fell the anger flow through my veins, it was an intense power I had never experienced before.

"Ah, you do have it in you" Miika said to me all of a sudden all calm again.

"What the frak do you mean! What are you doing to me!?" I shouted at him, adrenaline still pumping through my veins.

"You can almost beat me, only you need to get angry first. It means you've got hidden strength, ready to be unlocked. It means that Nathalka was right" He said whipping the blood of his face with a handkerchief.

I tried to calm myself down, and control my hyperventilation I saw the world around me blur and I felt sick very sick. Before I knew it I threw up and passed out.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

I opened my eyes and pretty quickly saw the world more clearly again.

My skull wasn't burning and feeling like it was exploding like the last time I woke up.

I remembered my dream and I felt proud._ I saved a soul, an important one, and he only thinks that I'm important_. A man, bitten by a wolf, fighting for the light, living in the dark. I now understood his strange nature. _It's unique, I must remember to look it up in the books, maybe some old passages of our bible will explain it, or maybe there's some prophecy that brings sense into these last weeks._

I tried to sit up, apart from some pain still in my stomach I was feeling okay.

I unhooked the IV that was in my arm_. This can wait, I really need to stretch._

I dangled my legs off the table and tried to stand up, it felt like my legs hadn't been used in years so I felt really unsteady at fist but slowly regaining my balance again.

As I stumbled to the door it swung open and Markus stood in the door way.

"You're up!" He said with a shock in his eyes.

"Yeah too bad for you! I'm ready to kick your ass again" I laughed at his shocked face.

He ran up to me and nearly squished me with his hug.

A pain jolt went through my body

"Markus please take it easy I'm still healing" I said, not being able to be mad at his enthusiasm.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry" he said as he let go of me and released his hug of doom.

"I'm going for a little walk" I said "Perhaps you would like to escort me?" I smiled

"Uh, yeah sure" He smiled silly and offered me his arm which I gratefully took to lean on.

"Old lady on the road make way!" He shouted as we made way down the central staircase. Some death dealers looking a little surprised by seeing me up and walking.

"I'm only four years older than you!" I said.

"Yeah I know, and it makes all the difference!" He laughed. "Oh by the way, your lycan friend did quite a number on the car…. Not to mention yourself…" He started

"The car…." I sighed. The car saved my life plenty of times, the thought of it's demolished frame made me sad.

"But… you have a handy brother" He got my coat and helped me put it on. "Come on follow me"

He opened the door and my car stood in front of the mansion lid by the light of a lantern.

Markus helped me down the front steps.

"Go ahead, check it out" He instructed grinning from ear to ear.

I ran my hand over the side of the car not a trace of the bullet holes.

"How did you?....."

"Giving the car a paint job was not the problem. Scrubbing your blood from the back furniture, now that was a serious task" He opened the back door of the car. "But of course, I managed" He said with a self satisfied grin.

"Of course I thought you were going to die and I would inherit the car…" He smiled

"Well I'm sorry you're going to have to wait a little longer" I said and pushed him away. "But thanks… .I guess…. It was a sweet gesture".

He brought me back inside.

"I'm happy you didn't die though…" he said.

"I know you'd be lost without me" I teased him.

I turned around and stumbled up the stairs again, I tripped but Markus was quick enough to catch me.

"Well all this excitement is not good for you I'm taking you back to your bed" He announced as the responsible sibling.

"Yeah I could deal with some more sleep" I said "But If you don't mind I would like to go to my own room, sleeping on a surgical table is not really comfy I can tell you" I smiled at him. He was okay for a little brother.

"Sure thing sis" He dropped me off at the door to my room and he ran upstairs for the bags of blood.

I opened the door to my room. I liked my room it gave me a sense of belonging. Like an ultimate feeling of home and peace.

I walked to my own massive bed and dropped myself on the soft mattress.

_Nothing like your own bed._

Markus walked in and placed the IV drip next to my bed.

He took one of the plastic tubes and I let him press the needle in my underarm.

"I bet you always wanted to do that" I said.

"Yeah… you just never got hurt badly enough to need IV drips like this, regularly we just have to force you to drink some blood"

"Yeah this one is a bitch isn't it? Remind me not to do this again…" I said being happy I survived the worse attack I ever had on my life.

'I will, now you sleep!" He said, kissed my forehead and left my room.

This night my dreams were more at ease.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The next evening I woke up again feeling renewed in strength. I looked up and saw the IV above my head ran empty. I blinked my eyes a few times to see the world more clear again.

As I turned my head I noticed I wasn't alone in my room. There was someone sitting in my room.

It was Miika. I felt uncomfortable. I Hadn't spoken to him since my stranger brought me back in after our surprise attack in the city. He brought me back. With methods only to be used on the highest in rank in our coven. _Why me._

I began to sit up as Miika walked towards my bed.

"How are you feeling?" his calm familiar voice asked.

"Great" I said " I feel like a whole new me" I smiled at him. But hen looked into his eyes painfully serious. " Miika what you did…"

He hushed me " What I did, is hat I had to do… You were dying and if there's anything in my power that I can do to prevent that I will" He said. I felt emotion bubbling up inside me. Something that I hadn't felt in a long time. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"I'm not even a pure born! You shouldn't have don this, you know this!" What about the covenant!" I spoke in a stressed out voice

"The covenant was never my idea and you know it! It was put in place by the Eastern European coven, the ones who value the pureness of blood over the love for their fellow kinsmen. I will not reign my coven this way I will not!" Miika said and I felt the rage in his voice. He had been called a traitor before by the Eastern European Coven. Miika didn't care about pureness of bloodlines, he cared about the person carrying the blood.

This is why I loved him so dear. If I had brought my stranger to the doorstep of the Eastern European Coven he would be shot on sight, simply because he's not of our kind.

"But what if they find out" I panicked. " I can't have you in trouble over me! It's not worth it!"

"Don't talk to me about worth! I know what is and is not worth it, in the past centuries I have come to understand that the way the Eastern European Coven has reigned our kind is wrong. It's wrong to discriminate in the human world, its wrong to do so in ours! The Eastern European Coven, look what became of their house! It lies in ruins. Half their vampires turned rogue. And who are left to clean up their mess? We are! The covenant…" He spat, truly angry. "It was put in place by a power loving madman who valued blood in the veins more than his own people. I will not have it in my house I will not!"

What followed was a painful silence, we both had to think about hat just was said.

I knew he was right, of course he was. Miika was always right. But I couldn't believe he broke one of our sacret laws for me.

"You knew all along…" I started. "When you found me and Markus, and killed our family's murderers, you bled them dry.."

"Just in case I'd ever need their blood, yes I was prepared" Miika said, his voice calm again.

I needed a moment to process the new information. I knew there was many blood stored but that was by the fathers of children. Pure born children, the children born vampire. If they were ever hit by a UV round they needed their fathers blood to recover. Only they were allowed this treatment. If Miika was true about his cause he had much MUCH more blood stored…

" I want to show you something… come on" he said.

I got out of bed and felt good again a bit sore but that could also have been from lying in bed too long.

We walked out of my room, down the long corridor and up a ladder, the same one I had came from the night before.

The big wooden doors of the room I recovered in were locked again. Only Miika carried the key.

He opened the door and I recognized the room. This is where I woke up a few nights ago.

He unlocked another door in the back of the room. He flickered on the light and what I saw there I would never forget.

There were walls FULL of blood bags hanging on hooks with name tags above them. It was sick how organized this all was. They were hung alphabetically. I saw bags for Anna, Bjorn, Daniella but also Markus had a supply and my name was there to. From my stack a few bags were missing. _Probably the ones they used._

"There's only a limited supply though, with pure borns the fathers can keep donating for their children. And in case the father is no longer around a mother can also donate. But when you use the blood of a sire, a sire that is dead, you have your limitations of course" Miika explained.

"Miika this is amazing!" I started, nothing began to explain the efforts Miika would go through to keep the members of his coven save.

We walked out and he locked the rooms again.

"I can't begin to thank you for saving my life… again" I started.

"Well than don't" He said as he smiled to me. "You just do your job and be the best Death Dealer I have. And for now, go check on our stranger. I gave him a hard time last night" Miika said.

"Miika you didn't!"

"Can't an old man have a little fun every now and then?" He said as he smiled and looked as innocent as he possibly could.

" He's powerful, he just needs rage to get into that power. You should train him. Make him learn to channel his rage and be able to use it at will"

"I will try, I will I promise" I said.

Miika kissed my forehead and he went downstairs again. I knew he always had some work to do.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

I woke up with Nathalka sitting kneeled next to my bed. Her big brown orbs staring me right in the eye.

It scared the hell out of me. She saw it, and smiled. I actually saw her smile, not just a grin, but a beautiful smile. This woman just got prettier by the minute, no matter how much wounds or scars she'd get.

"Wakey Wakey, eggs and backey! Moon's up, it's a clear night, ready to go hunting?"

Wow, this was the way to wake up.

"How long have I been sleeping?" I asked Nathalka.

"Two Days, we patched you up, just be careful with that hand of yours, it's fragile, It's that mortal blood of yours." She replied.

"What did Miika say?" I asked, reminding our unpleasant encounter two nights ago

"He's proud of you, you're almost as strong as he is, and he thinks you can actually be of use to us" She replied as she straightened herself.

Those words just comforted me, I smiled and got out of my bed. Right then, I noticed that I wasn't wearing any clothes. They probably just dumped me in bed to heal, without bothering to put on some pajama's or something.

"Well, you want to go in that birthday suit, or should we get you some clothes" Nathalka said without looking away. She wasn't embarrassed, she wasn't turned on, she didn't even look down uncomfortably..

"I think I'll get some clothes…" I said. I felt my head explode of shame.

When I got my hands on some clothes we were ready to go.

We both got into the car. Nathalka handled the machine with care, she really loved it.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "What's scheduled to die tonight?"

"We've heard about some rogue vampires. It means that tonight, we might have to slay our own kind" She said while never taking her eyes off the road.

"What does that mean?" I was wondered again, more questions!

"Well, we try to get rid of the stereotype vampire, the bloodsucking, killing, kidnapping monsters. We've got someone to wipe them out, but sometimes he needs some help. Tonight my friend, you're going to see real darkness, pure, chosen, evil."

"Never a dull day… well… night with you!"

I got exited, I started to enjoy this lifestyle.

"But first, we've got to give you a name" She said as she bit her lip exposing her fang.

Nathalka was right, I couldn't go through life unnamed anymore, hell, I didn't even know if this was life of afterlife. Either way, it was time to get an identity.

" Well in my coven its accustomed to be named by your sire. The one who turned you gives you a name that fits within the coven. Since my sire was a murdering bastard and was killed on sight he didn't get the honor of naming me. Miika did. So although I didn't really turn you, you're not really our kind. I did let you into our coven so than it would be suitable that I find you a name" Nathalka said, still heavily thinking by the frowns on her face.

" Well okay, what do you have in mind? Do you have anything in mind at all?" I asked her.

"When I was in my coma from the UV bullets and got new blood I suffered from the blood memories of my sire. But they were combined with my own dreams and visions. In my dream there appeared a white wolf, not a lycan but also not a wolf like you know them. It scared away my darkness and I woke up finding you next to my bed. You are the white wolf from my dreams. So I figure your name should be Bardulf which is old German for White Wolf. Which is, what you are" She said quickly looking me in the eye to measure my reaction than quickly looking back at the road ahead of us.

I let the thought linger my mind for a few minutes. Bardulf, these were not the names I was used to at all. I was from this century but I must not forget that Nathalka and all the other vampires at the mansion were not. Miika, I didn't even want to begin to get a grasp on how old he must be. Nathalka seemed young not over 25 in human years. But when she spoke or when I looked into her eyes I did notice I wasn't even near her age.

" So what do you think?" she asked interrupting my strain of thought.

" I like it" I replied smiling at her. " Especially the way you pronounce it" I said there was something about the northern accent it sounded both sexy but also mysterious and imposing.

" Haha, thanks. If you stick around long enough you'll have it to. I wasn't born here so I wasn't born knowing the language and the accent" she said as she drove us into a small village town.

She parked the car next to an old church. I looked at her in question.

" What?" she said " The crucifix thing is just a myth. There are actually members of our coven who are religious " She laughed as she put the parking brake on.

" Ok lets go we're meeting Kristan here, he's the guy who usually takes care of the rogue vampires and gives us a heads up when they're getting out of control again"

I was amazed by how organized things were. After hundreds of years you would think one get bored at doing their jobs but they stuck to it. All of them the vampires in the mansion. All had their own job and stuck to it. _That must be the only way for them to have survived over all these centuries._ I thought to myself.

We entered the church. It was warmer then outside, but not quite comfortable. For some reason it felt weird walking into a church in full body armor.

The church was also covered with spells in that ancient language.

The entire church was intact, the only seats available were wooden benches and a few chairs next to the altar. There was a man, dressed in a long white robe. He had pitch black hair that fell over his shoulders. His eyes were bright blue and his skin was pale.

He was working at the altar, preparing weapons.

"Terve Nathalka!" He said as he leaned in to hug Nathalka. Then he turned to me.

"Howdy!" The man said, he was a freaking cowboy. I'm Kristan, who are you?"

"My name is…" I forgot my name… "What's it again Nathalka?"

"Bardulf" she said.

"Ah, the white wolf!" Kristan said. The man walked up to the left of the room. There was a large bookshelf with ancient bibles, dictionaries and encyclopedias on it. He pulled a big red book of the shelf. It was so old, the cover started to fall apart. Threads of red fiber and paper were falling out of it when the man carried it towards the altar.

"This book speaks about you, is this a coincidence, Nathalka?"

"Can't say, I dreamt about this man, he's infected with lycan blood but he is not a lycan he doesn't transform but he does have their strength. Miika told me that he did first have to get angry to have his strength"

"What are you, Kristan? A day walking vampire?" I asked him.

"You're getting smart, Bardulf" Nathalka said to me. It was nice to receive a compliment from her.

Kristian looked at me and said: "They changed me, like they changed you. Vampires and werewolves are waiting centuries for people like me. The Lycans are waiting for a person with vampire strength, fighting for the dark, and Vampires are searching for a person with wolf strength, who's fighting for the light."

He opened the big book, and searched through the pages.

"This passage says it all:

'We shall not fear the light nor darkness. We shall not fight alone in a lost battle, for one of thy shall walk through fire and bring balance back to us. Though darkness nor light shall seize to be, for one needs other to exist.'

You see? You are the one to bring back balance between us. You're the one to end the war, you are our Light Wolf"

I was astonished. I accepted the fact that I was special, but I can't believe my job would be this big.

"Do the wolves already have a, well, Dark Vampire?" I asked for If I were to be their light there was someone in the Lycan clan to be their darkness.

Kristan smiled to me. "No they have not, but there are many vampires who aid the wolves in finding this one person. These vampires will bite and kill any human being who can potentially be a Dark one. They've bitten but me, hoping that I would fall to the dark, and become the Bringer of Darkness. The Kamenwati. The Dark Rebel. Fortunately, I fell into the light, and served this Coven."

"You must be a wonderful aid to them." I said. "What do you do?"

Nathalka walked towards the altar.

"He does what we need to do tonight, slay the vampires that have gone rogue. Show him the weapons, Kristan. "

"Alright, my favorite part. Forget the crucifix bullshit, it doesn't work. Crosses are formed everywhere, if we'd be allergic to them, we should burn when we came to an intersection or when we saw two tree branches growing over each other."

Kristan explained, it all made sense. I was surprised with how tainted my view of their kind was by what I had learned from media all my life. If you start thinking about it, there's little that can do real damage to either a vampire or werewolf. Because if there were so many ways of killing them their species wouldn't have survived over the centuries.

"You know that we can heal really fast. But in order for our bodies to restore themselves we do need new blood. Bleeding dry is what can kill us just as much as any other human. Other way to end a vampires life is a stake through the heart. Because of course, no blood circulation means no ability to regenerate yourself.

Other weaknesses are: Garlic, which is not lethal but it will slow us down, its nasty stuff burns the eyes and nose" I saw a shiver go through Kristan and Nathalka.

"UV as you already know…" He stopped talking for a second and looked at Nathalka. She looked away from his eyes and looked at the ground. _He must know what happened._

"When UV hits our skin we burn our skins are very thin and fragile sunlight will cause it to burn, like an extreme form of skin cancer." He said. I was intrigued with this all. I realized vampires are not dead. They're undead but they can be fragile none the less.

"Werewolves have the same thing, only they do not have the high senses we have. They are more based on brutal strength. Silver nitrate always does the job, although no one really found out why. It seems like a very strong allergic reaction they have, like anaphylactic shock which also prevents them from making the change from human form to lycan."

Kristan walked over to the back of the church and pulled away a curtain.

"As for weapons. I give you the Desert Eagle modded with silver nitrate bullets. Bullets are made from glass and have a small explosive in them. You need to detonate the bullets when they penetrate the target. If we make the bullets crash on impact, they would be destroyed upon firing.

We've got grenades with special little nasty spikes on them. Throw it, they stick into your target and make sure it blows it up to pieces. A little more painful variant of the sticky grenade.

We then have silver knifes, pretty self-explanatory. A vest that's resistant to UV, although for a short amount of time, but you won't be needing that.

We've also got a James Bond watch, with a GPS system build in. This way, we know where you are in case you need any backup, or get killed and we can't find your body. It'll blow up when you do not press in the code before taking it off your wrist. This way, when someone tries to pull it off of you to prevent us from finding you, we can still find your remains by heading towards the little mushroom cloud." Kristan laughed as he pressed the weapons into my hands. I had been training the past week but still wielding heavy armory felt strange to me yet it felt so right.

I smiled.

"Makes me feel comfortable. You got any special items for me?"

"Of course!" Kristian said. "Your very own Colt.44, Silver plated, adjusted to work with UV and normal rounds."

"Thank you very much, I missed him. It's still my original one, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yup, all yours mate!" He replied with his annoying American accent. "Just be sure you don't aim for her" He said and laughed.

"I'm pretty sure he seen his doses of UV wounds this last week" Nathalka smiled uncomfortably.

"Well if we're all good than lets go, we've got a battle to fight' Kristan said.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Snow fell on rooftops as we moved swift through the moonlight lit alleys. I longed for these moments. As a predator I scouted the streets that led to the old wood factory, according to Kristan, the lair of the rogue vampires. If there was anything I hated more than a lycan it was a rogue vampire.

They are my own kind but they made a willing choice for their killing lifestyle. Lycans sometimes can't control their animal urges and we're here to set them straight.

Rogue vampires are a total different story. They are a threat to all us immortals. they attack humans and make them notice our presence.

The only reason we survived over the centuries, is by not drawing too much attention to our existence. This was in jeopardy if these rogues went out and feast on humans.

Kristan gave us the all clear sign and we walked up to the old factory. I found a fire staircase which I climbed to the 3rd floor. The plan was that Bardulf and I would attack them from the upper floors as Kristan would scout the ground floors. We had the element of surprise but we were highly outnumbered, I noticed when I laid eyes on the group of rogues debating their plan issues on the ground floor below us. We climbed in through a broken window and I looked at my companion Bardulf. I was glad he was carrying a gun, and was not as helpless as last time we attacked. Just by thinking of that attack, the scars on my abdomen started to burn. Quickly I shook the memory of that attack and focused on the task ahead.

I climbed over the railing of the balcony, Bardulf did the same across the room. I nodded at him and we both jumped down. Soundless we hit the floor quickly hiding behind old logs of wood. This way we had cut of the rogue's escape routes.

Quickly I loaded my handguns with ammo clips. These guys needed to go and fast!

I spun around the log which hid me from the sight of the rogue vampires.

I stalked up two of the group members from behind and snapped their necks. Just when the other members began to notice, Bardulf did the same for the two across the room. I grabbed my guns from my belt and opened fire on the remaining vampires. The leader of the pack started yelling orders to their gunmen.

Bullets were flying but I quickly hid behind an old sowing table. It was at times hard for me to focus with Bardulf out there, I knew Miika trusted his strength but I still had the idea I had to look after him.

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I noticed Nathalka on the other side of the room. It was badly lit so I had to focus hard. Focusing myself took away a lot of my speed. When I blinked my eyes a few times to get used to the dark, I saw that Nathalka broke the necks of two group members. Two members in front of me looked shocked at her direction. They noticed her, I had to act fast so I also broke their necks. It was the first time I killed a humanoid. Their spines snapped in my hands and I was surprised about how fragile they were. Nathalka grabbed her guns and started to fire directly into the crowd. I grabbed my Colt and aimed. I emptied my clip and managed to kill 7 with the 9 bullets I had. I was out of shape.

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I swung from behind the table and opened fire. I hit 2 rogues in the chest. They crawled away in pain only to be met by Kristan who ended their miserable little lives. Bardulf was also still standing, he was now hand fighting two rogues and I saw that his training did him good. He had talent for the business. This took my eyes of my enemies for a second which allowed them to put a bullet in my shoulder.

I gasped in pain and quickly removed the bullet. I was okay but that bastard had to go.

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Kristan finished off two of the rogues shot by Nathalka. I started to smile, they were a well oiled machine. Although I was caught in a melee with two other vampires, I couldn't help noticing the fine cleavage of the vamp-fatale I was about to slay. I smiled and stabbed a stake through her heart.

I pulled the stake out of the incinerating corpse and smashed it into the head of the vampire behind me. I felt his brain matter drip into my neck. My coat…

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I stormed toward the guy that managed to put a bullet in my shoulder and jumped him like an angry lion. With the knife from my boot I sliced his throat and the vampire in me was slightly tempted drinking the dark crimson liquid that leaked out of the wound. We had plasma and the cloned blood, but nothing was quite like the original. Quickly I shook that thought. _We are at war! _Bardulf was on the floor being mounted by two rogues.

I ran towards them and took one of them out by shooting him in the head and Bardulf quickly got rid of the second one. Blood streaked Bardulf's face, it wasn't his own I noticed.

"You okay?" I asked him

"More than okay, I live for this" He said smiling and putting a couple of bullets into another rogue agent without getting his eyes off me.

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Blood had splattered on my face. It felt warm and cold at the same time. I needed to be careful, a few drops of their blood into my mouth could be lethal to me. I still was a human with the lycan virus.

Nathalka looked at me and said: "You okay?"

"More than okay, I live for this" I said smiling. I looked at Nathalka, at her figure, her legs covered in the black leather of her suit. She moved so elegantly during these fights, it was art. I heard a snoring behind me so I raised my arm, pointed my gun over my shoulder and shot 3 times. I wanted to shoot 4 times, but I heard a click. Empty. I still looked at Nathalka.

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"Alright then" I said and buried my knife into the throat of another rogue before blowing his brains out_. Such a pretty night for a bloodbath_.

I moved out from behind a pile of wooden logs and opened fire on the last two rogue vampires. It sure felt good releasing some tension and adrenaline.

All of a sudden I heard Bardulf scream out in pain from the other end of the room.

Quickly I made my way around the room finding him on the floor with blood on his leg. He took a bullet to the leg.

"Auch, couldn't jump away in time?" I asked him teasing him a little. A leg wound is more annoying than it is lethal, even to a human.

"Nice, really nice, I'm in agony here and you're making fun" He said clenching his teeth.

"Oh only just a little" I grinned.

"All secure" I heard Kristan say behind me. "What happened to you? Let one of the bastards get to you mate?"

"It's just a leg wound, let me bandage it so we can move out and get you patched up" I ripped a piece of cloth from one of the rogue vampires clothes and Bardulf stretched his leg so I could wrap the cloth around it so the bleeding would stop.

I grabbed his leg with both of my hands and a strange kind of electric current went through my body. Teeny little needles stung my skin and I felt a wave of nausea hit me heavily. A tremor in my arms made them not respond to my will any longer.

Then I tasted blood, my nose started to bleed. _What's going on! _As if taken by electricity I couldn't let go of Bardulf's leg.

"Nathalka let him go…" Kristan said surely getting a hunch something was wrong. "Let him go Nathalka…."

I wanted to but something in me prevented me from letting go as if my hands were melting into his flesh. I started to gasp as if my breath was being sucked out of my lungs.

My body started to shake as if going into an epileptic shock and the blood poured more and more from my nose.

Bardulf's face looked as if he wasn't here and now in this moment. He stared into blank sky his eyes so light there was almost only white left.

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Nathalka grabbed my leg. It was bleeding badly. I've never been so scared and excited at the same time.

As soon as her fingers closed around the wound, I felt aroused. My sight got better, I could clearly see in the dark as in the light. I smelled the faint fragrance of death and fire, smells I never noticed before. My wound itched like crazy! I looked at it and saw the bleeding had stopped. I looked at Nathalka.

It was like she got electrocuted, her face got whiter than usual. I saw her pupils grow larger and her skin started to crack. The blood spurted out of her nose.

Kristan was yelling, but I couldn't understand what he was saying, there was too much noise. I looked at my wound and saw that it closed completely. What the hell was going on!

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"S.. stop it.. Bardulf.. please…" I managed to say fighting to stay conscious as my old scars from the two bullet wounds started to bleed as well. I managed to look down at his leg, the bullet wound completely healed. My head was ready to explode as I felt two hands on my shoulders grabbing me from behind and pulling me away.

With a thud I landed on my back and after a few more violent spasms I regained control over my body. The stinging in my veins and shaking stopped. I coughed heavily trying to catch my breath.

_What the HELL just happened?_

I stayed on my back on the floor trying to regain control of my bodily functions. I whipped the blood from my nose and lifted my leather top to check on my scars who were no scars anymore but looked more like freshly inflicted wounds.

"What happened" I heard Bardulf ask in a weak voice as he sat up. I staid lying on the floor, still fighting the urge to pass out.

I heard Kristan walking towards me and crouching beside me. His face soon appeared in my sight.

"Nathalka are you alright?" He asked, his concern stained his accent. He started checking my wounds which now had stopped bleeding again.

"I think so, I don't feel too well, my head hurts like hell and I feel like all my energy has been drained" I said as the pounding in my head wouldn't stop.

"Well he did, drain you of energy that is" Kristan said. "I don't know how, but he has other powers than the ones we know. He can take your healing skill and make it his own. When you touched him, the wound on his leg completely healed. But it took from you. You started bleeding from wounds that are already healed"

"What? I didn't I mean I didn't want to.." Bardulf started as he got up. His leg clearly healed.

"I'm so sorry, is she going to be alright?" He said as I saw him as well inspecting me. "All this blood! I'm so sorry really I had no idea I was hurting you. It was as if it wasn't me in my body! I would never want to hurt you!"

"It's okay Bardulf" I said as I said up. "I will be okay, see the bleeding already stopped. Now only for that excruciating headache to go away…" I said slowly getting up to my unsteady legs. Right now all I wanted was some rest. It felt like I had fought an entire lycan army and hadn't slept in years. I saw the horrified look on Bardulfs face and felt sorry for him.

"Hey don't worry, I can take a knock. But we should find out a way for you to channel this power, because I do believe it can be very lethal"

Kristan set a nuke in the old factory, getting rid of any remains of the rogue vampires. We walked out together back to my car and out of this deserted town. We drove Kristan to town, well we… I let Bardulf drive he did a good job before so I trusted him with my car, and dropped Kristan at the church.

"You'll be okay?" He asked me as we said goodbye.

"I will be fine really! I just want to sleep and don't wake up for a century or two" I smiled at him. "I contact you soon"

"Bye Bardulf, it was great working with you lad." He said and he shook Bardulf's hand

"Yeah me to" Bardulf said a little absent minded.

"Come one Bardulf, drive me back to my little bed" I said as I got into the car.

Together we drove back to Olavinlinna and after checking he was truly alright all I wanted was getting into my bed and sleep a long…. long time.

_I will get back to him….. tomorrow if the formal reception because the ambassadors of the Western European Coven come over. Let's see how he likes that._ I grinned as I fell into a very deep sleep.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

I woke up the next afternoon I felt totally fit. My leg had healed completely after my encounter with Nathalka the other night. I wasn't sure what had happened. It was as if my body became a massive sponge and drain her of her life energy so my body could feed on it.

It was dangerous I felt it there and then. It was a parasitic skill.. I didn't want it. Or at least not use it on the ones I care for, the ones like Nathalka.

I got out of bed and went into my little bathroom. I was amazed how luxurious the aristocratic vampires actually lived. Everyone had their own bathroom their own room all things of their own even though it was very communal. _Beats the crap out of my old leaking and horribly high of prize apartment. _

I was just getting ready to get into a fresh set of leathers when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" I said. Markus walked in the room with a three piece suit.

"Here's your suit" Markus said "Nathalka asked me to pick it up for you. I figured this must be about the right size" He said as he hung the suit next to my mirror.

"Uh, suit? What for? Is it.. 'let's all wear suits' day?" I asked I was really clueless on where the suit was for.

"Not really. Today ambassadors of the Western European Coven will arrive for a meeting with the coven's eldest. Miika expects us all to be and behave on our best." Markus said as he also placed a tray of food on my desk.

"I'm sure Nathalka will explain the rest. We expect you downstairs at 20:00 okay?" He left my room and I just sat on my bad flabbergasted.

If there was anything I hated more than blood on my coat it was formal cocktail parties. I didn't know anyone yet in the house apart from Nathalka and her brother. Oh and of course there was always Miika who still scared the crap out of me.

I checked my watch. It was 19:05 I still had about an hour to get ready. Quickly I ate my food. It was nothing special but I was already happy they took care of me in that way. They didn't have to since the food was for me only.

I got dressed into my tux and it fitted me perfectly. As I put on my tie I thought to myself. _Well let's just make the best out of this._

At 20:00 exactly I closed the door to my room and walked towards the great staircase.

It was unlike anything I had ever seen. People were dressed up in their finest outfits and everyone seemed to have a great time. I walked down the stairs, feeling very comfortable in my tux. _That Markus does a good job with buying clothes for me. First the leathers, now a suit I should keep in mind to thank him. _When I walked into the big lounge there were vampires sitting, drinking, I didn't for a second consider they were drinking red wine….. To much amazement, they smiled at me as I walked into the lounge. _I must be earning their respect._ And to be really honest with myself I felt more comfortable around them as well. That could have to do with the fact I got more accustomed with their ways, their lives and their weaknesses. Last night I slayed several of their kind which in a weird way made me feel comfortable around members of the coven. When I scouted the room I noticed there were plenty of same sex couples something you might not see at a regular cocktail party. _When having an eternity, why stick with what you know…. They're right. _

Across the room Miika was seated in a big chair, no it was more like a throne. Next to him was a man with long black hair, he wore a long robe and looked important. _Must be the ruler of the Western European Coven_. Miika gave me a friendly nod and I smiled back. I didn't get that guy. He scared me but still I knew he harbored no ill will.

I looked around If I spotted Nathalka anywhere. So far no sight of her. I got tapped on the shoulder, it was Markus standing behind me.

"Hey Bardulf….It is okay I call you that, is it?" He asked.

"Hey Markus, yeah of course, that's where a name is for" I laughed and shook Markus' hand "I want to thank you Markus, the tux fits and looks great"

"No problem, I have an eye for such things, and to make you feel even more comfortable…" He handed me a beer A BEER! "I know you are probably not too fond of the red stuff.

"Cheers man" I said. Markus was a character I would like. He's the spontaneous type of guy who has his heart on his tongue. I felt like I knew where I stood with him.

I looked around the room. It was huge, covered with red carpets and banners. There were crosses and candles hanging from the walls, and there were large papers filled with text hanging next to them.

It was well lit for a closed room only enlightened by candles.

There were many, many women. A lot of them were looking at me. I noticed some were trying to flirt with me. That was first, and it was damn uncomfortable. I swallowed, and two women grinned at me, knowing what they loosened in me.

This was so not my cup of tea, but I was enjoying it nonetheless.

"Markus… Markus!" Liisa called him from across the room. "If you'll excuse me, ladies call" He said with a grin as he disappeared into the crowed.

I took a zip of my beer, the cold flavor did me great, I couldn't remember how long it had been I had actually drunk anything other than plain water.

I looked around to see if there was any sign of Nathalka since I was getting worried. After what happened last night I was still not sure If I didn't harm her in a more severe way. But when I turned around to face the door she just walked in.

She looked absolutely breathtaking and very lady like, which wasn't really her think I figured.

She wore a long crimson red skirt with a black corset. She tied her hair together in a knot and wore a very expensive looking necklace. Her lips were streaked red with blood, it was romantic and morbid at the same time. This was a total other side of a darkness I'd never seen before.

If I wasn't looking out for myself my jaw would have dropped.

"Hey" She said plainly as she walked towards me.

"You.. well… you.. look great" I said trying not to stare, yet her appearance was distracting.

"Thanks, you clean up nicely as well" She replied. "I see they took care of you" as she pointed at my beer.

"Markus, great guy. Takes good care of me" I replied as I smiled at her.

"Yeah, If he wouldn't I would kick his ass" She said.

"In that dress? I'd buy a ticket to see that"

"I'm sure you would" She laughed, she had a beautiful laugh, as she reached for a glass of that crimson beverage.

We walked around the lounge and Nathalka introduced me to a lot of new faces. Though I wasn't good with names I did get an idea who lived at the mansion and who did what within the great fortress. Weird enough all of them responded kindly to my presence even if they knew I was different.

"So these kind of get together aren't strange to you?" I asked Nathalka

"No, we meet with council members of other covens all the time. We are separate covens. But we are one species and if we wouldn't be able to work together we wouldn't survive." She explained.

"Plus it's a good excuse to have a party and 'feed without need' as we call it" She laughed as she took a sip of her expensive looking diamond glass.

The night went by with ease and I had social fun for the first time in many years. Perhaps it was because I didn't feel as weird or left out as I used to feel in regular society. I wasn't part of their coven as they all were linked by their blood bound but It did feel good.

At the end of the evening Nathalka came to find me.

"I'm going out on the balcony it's kind of warm in here" She said as her face actually looked little less pale than its usual shade of white. "Want to come?"

"Yeah sure" I replied as I got off my chair and followed her upstairs.

She opened the big doors that led to the moonlight filled balcony. The night air was cool and dry. It was freezing outside but Nathalka didn't bother putting on something. The cold soothed her skin.

She sat herself down on a bench and inhaled deep.

"I love the night air, especially here in the north, nothing like where I came from" She said as I walked towards the bench to sit down as well.

"I usually am no fan of social gatherings but this was pretty fun" I confessed. I met a lot of new people, people who didn't pose a threat to me. People I could actually like.

"Me neither, I only do it to keep Miika happy. He really wants me by his side on evenings like this. And I would do anything not to let him down." She said and smiled. She cared deeply for the old man. Go figure, she owed him her life many times.

"Many couples as well, is single life a crime in the covens?" I said as a joke.

"No not really, it's just that eternity can get… boring on your own" Nathalka said and looked away with a sad smile.

"What about you? Do you have any love in your life?" I asked, unsure if I was willing to go here and even more unsure if she was willing to go there. We now started to know each other but we never talked about our private lives. Everything was in relation to the warfare.

"A death dealer has no room for love in her life. The war is my life, my love" She said as a standard answer to the question.

"You can't tell me there never has been anyone in your live you have loved. I know the war is important but there must be more to immortality than killing lycans and rogue vampires" I said as I tried to challenge her answer.

"Well, even if there was it's not important anymore" She said as she stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony staring out to the in snow covered gardens.

"So there was someone, tell me, what happened?" I asked not even sure If I wanted to know but I had a feeling this was important.

"It was many years ago, I loved her dearly and I'm pretty sure she loved me back even if we never talked about what was going on between us. It was at the time we were part of the Western European Coven. She was a pure blood. Her parents didn't approve. They moved south, I haven't seen her since." She blinked, trying to hide her tears. "At that moment I decided love has no place in a death dealers heart"

"What was her name?" I asked. Feeling sorry for her. Not only for not being able to be with her loved one. But for the fact she actually believed she could do without love in total.

"Ioné…" She replied. "Like I said, that was a long time ago, it doesn't even matter anymore." She said and she walked towards the doors. "It's getting early, we should get inside and lock the mansion down before sunlight is here"

I decided not to ask any more questions. It was getting early and I was getting tired from all the social gathering. Or it could just be the alcohol I had consumed for the first time again in years.

"Nathalka, I've got to say something to you" I said with a little stutter in my voice.

"Shoot" She said. She breathed in deep and pulled herself together.

"You're my best friend, without you, I'd be nothing. I want to thank you for showing all this to me, and guiding me through your world. I'm really genuinely grateful about it."

"Shut up Bardulf, don't be such a pussy. You're special, I wouldn't have done it if you were just human." She said. " I would have eaten you alive…." She said with a teasing smile.

Nathalka walked away and I smiled. She would never show any emotion like that, and if she did, it didn't meant anything good. Her harsh words said what I needed to know. She accepted me in her life.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

I closed the door of my room. It was pitch black inside it. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and I could see like in daylight. _One of the advantages of being a Vampire_. God I hated that word, It was so demeaning.

Bardulf had grown a lot in the past few weeks, but he had outgrown his own limits. I was afraid that he would not be able to control himself.

I locked my door. I normally didn't but now I just felt like it.

I undressed slowly, taking off each piece of cloth covering my skin. I wanted to go to bed, cry my eyes out. Once every couple of years it just hits me like a brick.

She stole my heart and had to break it for us to live.

We were two different people. I knew it was never meant to be, I was a death dealer, she an aristocrat. What was I thinking in the first place, still I wasn't able to let it go. A small part in my heart always cherished some hope that it might work out. A fools hope as it turned out.

That final night we had together was to dream about. Most people, let alone mortals, wouldn't even encounter a tenth of that night in their lives.

I laid down on my bed. There was a cold draft, I felt the cold glide over my chest and stomach, causing for some goose bumps and a slight uncomfortable feeling. I pulled got under the sheets to my shoulders. I warmed up and thought back of that one night.

It was 183 years ago. So long in mortal years, but to me it felt like it was yesterday.

That night it was freezing horribly. We went to a play together. In that time, it was as romantic as seeing a movie in the late 50's. We scuffled up together in the theatre which was filled with aristocrats. They made me nervous, it was not common for pure bloods to hang out with bastards like myself. But when Ioné smiled at me I felt at place right away.

There were multiple female/female couples in the theatre something you don't usually see in mortal get togethers.

Unlike mortals we don't see reproduction as the goal of our lives. We fall for the one we fall for, because of the person, not the gender. Ioné cried during the play. She always had been the one that showed her emotions more than I did. I'd put my arm around her.

When the play ended, we went out to get an ice cream. It was so weird, it was minus 20 degrees Celsius and Ioné wanted ice cream. She always wanted that when she was said or depressed, and who was I to deny her some.

Together we walked towards her home. We went through deserted park. It was so beautiful. Everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow, the branches almost snapped of the weight. Street lanterns barely lit the place enough for us to see the path before us.

It started to snow, so we walked faster. Ioné had the most beautiful laugh when she cheered up, maybe that was the part that made me feel attracted to her. She wasn't the standard beauty, she wasn't perfect, she was and had everything to complete me, and as long as we together felt perfect, it was alright. Her dark brown hair caught the snowflakes it made her even more beautiful.

After a couple of minutes, we ended up at her house. She lived alone, away from her coven. In this time that was still possible, we weren't cramped into houses as rats in a sewer yet. Her parents were the leaders of her Coven so she didn't want to spend too much time around them.

She asked me inside for some tea. I loved it, I needed to warm up. Her house was small but nice. It was warm and her cat was sleeping on the couch.

Ioné said to me that I should get a seat while she made the tea. I wanted to get rid of that cat but it wouldn't let me. So I cramped up next to it, the little space it gave me.

When Ioné returned with the tea the cat simply looked at her, stood, and jumped off the couch to let Ioné sit. I decided from that moment that I didn't like the cat.

I looked at her, and we made eye contact. It was new, brand new to me and to her we never made eye contact like this before. She looked into my eyes and it felt like she exposed my core. Her eyes went through my body as an electrical current.

She leaned towards me and I felt her hand wrap itself around the back of my head. I kissed her. Normally I never took the first step, but I was sure that it was the right thing to do at the right time. I felt her tongue slip into my mouth, and I felt her fangs with mine. It was gentle and tender, not like she tore my head off. I stroked her back with my left hand and with my right her hair. She was so soft, and smelled so nice.

I dragged her to the floor, towards her comfortable carpet. She pinned me down under her and I almost got crushed beneath her, but it didn't matter.

She stood up and slowly unbuttoned her blouse. I didn't do the same thing, although I wanted, she was so enormously beautiful, that I couldn't keep my eyes of her. She could read that in mine, and smiled.

She threw away her blouse and revealed a beautiful black bra. Her skin was smooth and pale. My god what a body, she was so pretty, so genuinely pretty. She smiled and bowed her head forwards. I tried to unbutton my blouse, but when I looked down, it appeared to be 15 buttons. Ioné bowed forwards letting her hair fall over her face. She grabbed my shirt and tore it open, making all the 15 buttons fly through the air. The cat looked up as if it had an itch.

She grabbed a pair of scissors from the table. My eyes opened wide because I knew what she was planning to do.

"No no no no!" I said but it was too late. She had cut my bra into two equal pieces.

I lifted my upper body and felt my clothes slide of my arms and waist.

Ioné stared at me, and I felt exposed.

We fell into each other's arms and started to kiss once more. We both helped each other to take the rest of our clothes off. At that time it was still cotton, and not the sticky leather we wear nowadays.

The soft texture of her skin almost melted together with mine. Right now, I felt more aroused as I ever felt before.

Her left hand stroked my skin. Her fingertips gently touched my hips, it felt like she pushed the air against me, not her fingers.

Right then I felt her hand slide in between my thighs. I gasped and bit on my bottom lip. I let both of my hands glide over her back. It felt like silk.

I closed my eyes and could still see her in front of me. I felt so complete, as if I never was really myself up until this moment.

My hands were sliding down over her body leaving a trail of goose bumps over her stomach.

I felt her hand slide up again. She placed both her hands on the carped next to my head, and slowly pushed herself down. She kissed my belly, her tongue making small circles around my belly-button.

Ioné came up again and rolled upon the floor. I turned to her, causing me to face her face, both lying on our sides. I let my hand glide over her thighs and slowly stroking her skin. I felt her squirm and I kissed her.

Our hands worked our magic, we made love that night for the first and the last time.

We were so close. I felt myself getting warmer and looked at Ioné's face. Her big beautiful eyes were filled with love, it almost made me cry. Little pearls of sweat were sparkling on her face, She felt as warm as I was. I pressed my forehead against her. She threw her unused arm around me, and hugged me.

Right then, at the climax of our night, the most intimate night I had ever lived in my long life, the sun rose up, and a ray of light fell into the room, right on top of us. We both screamed. The sun had left his permanent mark of that night upon both of our bodies.

Our curse came between us, once more.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

I cocked my pistol. Not because it's necessary, but the sound is the most intimidating sound you can ever imagine. The sound of the end of someone's life, the power for you to end that very life.

I looked at Nathalka. I knew I'd never get tired of seeing that sheer happiness in her eyes. Just not really the life she wanted, but she could make a difference. That's more than the other 6 billion people in this world ever could do.

I was squatting down against a little wooden wall. Nathalka was behind a brick wall, for which I really envied her.

On the other side of those walls, was a gather of rogue vampires and Lycans. If they even smelled us being here, and with vampires that chance is present, they would open fire upon us. At this point, the envy for Nathalka's brick wall against my wooden wall came in.

I grinned at her, she knew what I was thinking, she even stroked the goddamn wall as if it was her lover.

I switched my pistol from semi to full automatic. Kristan was a big help for me.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and felt something odd happen to me. It felt like there was more light in the room than before. When I opened my eyes, it felt like I was wearing some sort of light enhancing goggles.

My mouth was filled with an irony taste. Maybe I had ripped my gums from the tension.

I lifted myself up, from the ground, revealing myself to the wonderful audience at the other side of the room. I could clearly hear the cracking of leather jackets when they pulled out their weapons. Before they could, I sprayed the room with silver nitrate and UV bullets. For a moment, the smell of sulfur and the sound of screams filled the room. The room lit up as if it was a firework storage room gone to flames.

After a few seconds, only the smell, hissing sounds and a few piles of ashes were left.

Nathalka didn't even had a chance to open fire. She looked at me with awe.

"How the hell… What just happened?" she asked.

"I killed them?" I replied.

"You were so fast that they didn't even had time to fire back, what the hell is happening?"

I was confused. I could have sworn that the entire fight lasted for about 10 to 15 minutes.

"How did you do that? How did you move so fast? Only the bullets were faster than you."

She said to me, still looking with that surprised expression.

"Don't talk like that, I don't know what you drank this morning, but it didn't do you any good" I said to her.

"Listen you fucking idiot! Don't you see? The ashes were still falling, the screams were still going on when you stopped firing, and you didn't miss a single shot! Doesn't that amaze you? Couldn't you have done this a few weeks earlier? It would save us a lot of trouble and time!"

I started to realize what happened.

"You get it you moron? Let's get the hell back to the coven to find out what the frak is going on with you! First you drain me near to death, and now you move like time doesn't has any influence on you!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was scared, I truly was. Who was he? WHAT was he? It was clear to me that he was no lycan nor a vampire. He might have been infected with the lycanthropy virus, it was clear that he was way different from those beasts.

Not knowing what to expect of him scared me, he was dangerous and I knew it.

Kristan had been working with him in the day time hours when I was confined to stay within the safety of Olavinlinna. He was expanding his powers but they still didn't seem fully within his grasp. Stuff like this happening to us, scared me honestly.

First he nearly drained me dry of my life energy and now this!

"We need to go, NOW" I said, I didn't look him in the eye. I wasn't sure what to say.

We got into our car and speeded back to Olavinlinna.

I was a fast driver but now I raced as fast as the snowy road would carry us.

He looked at me during our drive, I didn't look back I kept my eyes stuck to the road on all time we didn't speak I think he could sense that I was shook up by what happened.

I parked the car right in front of the door to our fortress.

The big oak doors slammed open and I walked in, dropping my coat and shoes at the door.

"I'm going to see Miika, I'll talk to you later" I said at him without giving him another look.

I knocked the door to the office

"Miika… Miika oletko siellä? Minun täytyy puhua sinulle!

I slowly opened the door

"Nathalka, Mikä hätänä? Mitä tapahtui? Wasn't your mission successful?" Miika said.

"Yes it was… perhaps a little too successful" I said as I sat down in front of Miika's desk.

Quickly looking at the paperwork Miika was working on. They were files, files of rogues, files of lycans. It would have been easier for him to work with a computer but Miika never managed to have the patience to learn to work with one. And he was right, by the time he learned to work with one model it was already outdated and the next one followed.

In an immortal life technology seemed pretty obsolete.

"Talk to me, what are your concerns?" Miika said, concern reflecting in his bright eyes.

"We got to the location as planned we got in took our positions, all the suspects were there." I took a deep breath trying not to race through it. "I blinked my eyes and when I looked again he already shot all our suspects! I couldn't even aim and he already shot all of them! It was as if he defied time. None of the suspects even fired a shot... they were taken out before they even raised a weapon…" I took another breath.

"Bardulf looked as surprised as I was. I don't know If I can work with him anymore, he's dangerous. He doesn't control his powers, he doesn't know what or who he is! I mean last week he nearly drained me of my life energy to heal himself. And tonight this!" I ended my rant and looked at Miika with frustration.

Miika didn't reply he just looked ahead into oblivion.

"He says he won't hurt me, and I truly believe he doesn't want to. But I'm not sure he can make such a promise…."

"Kristan informed me last night about the progress our stranger made. Kristan is a good teacher, but he's unconventional…. as we all know. That's why he lives outside of the coven. Bardulf needs to be able to restrain his powers, that what he can't control isn't good for him or us." Miika said, keeping his calm as always but I could see in his eyes that he was alarmed by this news. It was a big step for him to take Bardulf in as one of us but I knew that whenever Bardulf might pose a threat to the coven, we might have to let him go.

"Nathalka, I have placed my faith in you many more times before. And I must ask of you again be the judge in this situation. If Bardulf is too much to handle, if he is indeed dangerous…. you know what must be done… we can't let the coven run a risk" Miika said. His words hit me hard but I knew he was right, the past weeks I started to fear for my life around Bardulf.

"Alright, I will talk to him, something needs to happen" I said. With new found determination I got up and walked out of Miikas office.

Bardulf was in the lounge, making some chats with some of the coven members.

"Bardulf we need to talk, now" I spoke dominantly, I wasn't ready to be put off.

He got up and followed me to my office.

"Sit please" I said.

I saw he was ready to speak, ready to make an excuse in what happened. I didn't let him. I wasn't ready to hear this.

"Bardulf listen. You know I've always trusted you this far in our mission together. And you have been a great companion this far but you have become dangerous. I can't trust my life into the hands of someone who scares me. I can't fully devote my attention to my enemies and worry about you at the same time" I said my arms crossed over my chest.

"Nathalka I…" he started.

"No, you just listen! You need to understand. The safety of my coven has to come first, It always has! I know you and Kristan have been working together and making progress but shit like it happened today I can't have happening again without me being prepared for something like that!" I didn't want to hurt him but this he had to hear.

"Bardulf… I think it's better that for now you won't join me and the death dealers on a mission…" I finished staring at him waiting for his response.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

For years I have lived in the dark corners of the world, trying to do good in a world filled with evil. I could hardly remember my life without the evil, without the darkness.

I hated this world ever since I was taken by darkness, I got sucked in and now it was looking like I was never going to leave.

I picked up the lamp besides my bed, the only source of light in my room.

This stinking dark shithole of a mansion, unheated, unlit, locked up during the day.

The lamp was a piece of beauty. _Probably painted by hand._

I smashed it into the mirror and watched the broken pieces fly around.

"That FRAKKING BITCH!" I shouted. I couldn't see clear anymore tears had sprung in my eyes.

For the last weeks, months, we fought together, we kept the coven thriving, we stood up against evil, and now this.

_I am new to all this, I didn't live in this world for hundreds and hundreds of years. I am the one who has to learn to live with these powers. She didn't have to go through this. She is already who she is! She can't possibility BEGIN to understand what it's like! _I smashed my fist on the table.

Honestly I didn't even think Nathalka ever was human, I couldn't begin to imagine what that has been like. The way she handles herself is so … sophisticated. As if she was a death dealer by birth. The truth is I knew that for at least 20 years she had been human.

Why can't I be fighting by her side, why does she leave me in the mansion? Surrounded by people that I didn't really know, that didn't really trust me, because part of me is their enemy.

My mother, whom I cannot remember, appeared to have the Lycan virus. _Virus, is it actually a virus? Wouldn't vampires be carriers of a virus then?_ I made a mental note to ask Miika about the origins of the vampire and werewolf nature.

My mother was a carrier, not infected but she carried a recessive lycan gene.

I never knew my father but due to my recently discovered powers I knew he had to be an immortal, perhaps not a lycan or vampire but something else. The truth is I didn't know and I wouldn't find out any day soon.

Either way it caused me to change into what I am today, it cursed me. I would never be part of lycan clan, nor a vampire clam because I am neither.

I stared at the broken pieces of the mirror. It was scattered over the floor and the little particles of glass were still flying through the air.

The longer I stared at them, the stranger it seemed to be. The reflection of the building kept moving but I was standing still.

After a few seconds I noticed that it wasn't the reflection that was moving, but the mirror pieces themselves. It looked like they slowly melted into puddles of mercury.

Two loud bangs on my door woke me from my trance. I looked at the door, and back to the mirror. The entire mirror was fixed back into the wall. It looked like it never broke in the first place, except from the smashed lamp beneath it. I blinked my eyes to check if my eyes didn't deceit me.

I walked to the door and unlocked it. Miika walked into the room.

"You know why I am here" Miika said. He entered my room and the door closed behind him, although he nor I touched it.

"Not many people have the ability you have, and you need to understand that there isn't anyone like you. There isn't anyone here that can tell you how you are supposed to be. "

"Why am I being punished for it?" I asked him.

He looked at me with his piercing eyes. I noticed that they didn't have any color. When you look into them normally they are grey but when you look deep you notice that they don't have a color. Not just black or white, but every color there is.

"And why am I being treated like a child?!"

"Because in our age, you are a child. If you don't want to be treated like a child then why the hell do you ask questions like a child? You want to be respected and tolerated as an adult? Act on it."

"I'm new to all this!" I tried not to yell but he obviously didn't get nor share my frustration

"But you've got the brains to figure out the most obvious. We can't spare the time to teach you how to walk, talk and eat! You've got to do it on your own. We learn most through observation we ask for help but you have to figure out who you are for yourself and where you belong within the coven. We all had to go through that. You've got to learn to control it yourself!" Miika said fierce yet calm as always.

"Why did Nathalka leave me? Why is she angry?" The truth was the process of controlling my strength was one thing, dealing with Nathalka was something completely different.

"First of all, stop being so frakking paranoid, because she is not angry! If you knew Nathalka you know that she handles things HER way. If things get in the way she gets them out of the way. Nothing stands between her and her job. Not you, not me not a lover, nobody. She has little patience and her work is more important to her than her personal life. That's why she is our finest warrior. But you were the first, in many centuries, that made her feel compassion and concern. That scares her, she can't use that in the mission ahead."

"But.. I just want…"

Miika looked me straight in the eye. "Can't you see that this is not about you? Could you stop being so selfish for just one minute?"

I nodded, Miika was right. All this time I was so worried on how I behaved towards Nathalka and I realized that this was only because I needed to have conformation that I did the right thing. That I was doing the things that made her proud, made her accept me in her world. But the truth was I did these things to make myself feel comfortable.

"You want the best for her, you want to help her and make her proud. She wants that too, but she cannot spare the time to teach you everything. If you truly care about her you accept that"

Miika walked back across the room towards the door, and opened it by hand.

"Work hard, learn how this world works, we need you."

Miika walked through the door and closed it. I walked towards the eastern wall. I looked at the bricks, focused on them. I had these powers, I had to work with them and for them. I could do something make them all proud.

The harder I focused, the more the bricks started to shake.

It drained the energy from me, but it did nothing but shake the wall like a truck drove by.

I need to lock myself out again. Out of this world, emotions are killing me.

It's human, it's fake, it's just neurons sending information sending neurotransmitter liquids through the brain which make you feel the way you feel. In the end, all feelings can be reduced to a biological process in the brain, they don't mean anything more. Once you've accepted that you can relativity them. You can transcend humanity, once you control emotion.

But if we rule out emotion, rule out fear, anger … even love. Then what is there to fight for? Why do we save the people we save? Why do we kill the people we kill. Nathalka might tell you that it's all about weighting the pro's and con's and make a logical choice for the first or the second. Maybe for her, she isn't human but I knew for me life isn't that academic. We make choice from our feeling, from our gut instinct in what is wrong and what is right.

I could let the lycans destroy the world, why would I care? If I didn't have any emotion anymore it wouldn't be worth is. The truth is, I do need that emotion. The emotion by the name of Nathalka. I cared for her, for her kind. And there for I would train, as hard as I can. To prove them, I could fight and die with the best of them

My body and mind felt exhausted. Time for sleep. I'd apologize to Nathalka in the morning.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

For the past 4 weeks I've been alone in my room. I locked myself up from the outside world and created my new world with the vampire rules.

Nathalka comes by to check up to me every 3 days, she's very occupied planning a new mission. She doesn't talk much about it but I notice that she hadn't had any proper rest in a while.

If possible she looked paler then ever and there was exhaustion written in her eyes.

Something is about to happen, I can sense it. The mansion is in a state of unrest, everyone seems more at their guard, more alert or something.

Still she did come by to make sure I keep eating, kept my strength up.

I've been training my body and mind for four weeks straight and I lost five kilo's.

I haven't seen daylight since and started to look more and more like the vampires, social contact had been lost completely, except for Nathalka or Marcus taking care of my basic needs.

Nathalka walked into my room, closed the door behind her. My room was pretty much destroyed. My bed was burned up and smashed into pieces to a corner. My mirror was broken, repaired, broken and then repaired again. The wallpaper looked like it was boiled in hot water for days, the paint fell off the ceiling and the floor was frozen. Frozen in a burned dried up room without windows or lights.

"You ok?" Nathalka asked me, clearly she got used to the fact my room kept changing each time she visited.

I was sitting in a corner on the other side of the door, my knees draw to my face, arms resting on my knees. I opened my eyes.

I didn't turn on the light, I could see in the dark right now, just like during that fight. I believed that my eyes were actually glowing but can't tell that for sure. Nathalka's however were for sure.

She clicked the light on and it took me a few moments to get used to the light. I blinked my eyes a few time until I saw sharp again.

"I've got another mission, Bardulf…. I'm sorry but it's too dangerous to bring you…." I saw in her eyes that it was hard for her to tell me I couldn't come because I might pose a threat.

"Okay" I said. "It means that I'm not ready."

We felt quiet for a few minutes. Then I broke the silence. "If you doubt me, it's never a good thing."

She rolled her eyes. Nathalka was never really someone for self pity. I should have known better by now. I regretted my remark already.

"Come on Bardulf, you know very well that I would be more than happy to bring you.

But after our last encounter I can only have eyes for this mission. I can't look out for you at the same time. I'm sorry"

I cleared my throat uncomfortably and decided to drop the subject. It was painful for me to hear Nathalka didn't trust me enough to bring me on a dangerous mission but I knew she was right.

"What's the mission about? I've noticed unrest in the mansion, something is about to happen"

Nathalka let out a deep sigh

"You're right, there is stuff to happen, and we're all in danger.

We've took out a mayor Rogue underground coven in the Southern regions a few weeks ago. There were documents present that spoke of a vampire god. Kind of like Dracula resurrected. They were so fixated upon the myths about vampires, that they've made a lair in Transylvania."

I smiled at her "Vampires are like Christians. They believe whatever is written in a book that claims to be written by god"

I saw in her face that she was clearly annoyed but she didn't give it any attention.

"I'm going there, I'm taking 4 other death dealers. Let's see what they've got."

"Bring me back a souvenir would you?" I asked to lighten the conversation.

"I'll bring you Transylvanian beer." She said and she smiled again, I loved it when she smiled, it made her eyes sparkle.

Nathalka left the room. I listened to her footsteps fade out in the hallway, and when she was completely gone, I closed my eyes again.

With my eyes closed, I could see the world glowing. It was like it had been made of light, it was the pure dimension. I could use it to gain power without draining other people's aura.

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I was looking at my feet when I walked down the steps of the staircase. I never looked at my feet, my parents taught me to look up to the sky, even if it rains.

Gods, my parents, so long ago. Quickly I shook my thoughts. I can't have that now, I need to focus.

Miika was waiting for me in the lobby.

I walked towards him and looked around to see if nobody was listening.

Bardulf wasn't a secret but his recent developments, concerned the other coven members to say the least.

"How is he?" He asked me.

"Better, he needs a new room though." I said and smiled at Miika.

Miika smiled back "How are you?" he asked while laying his hand on my shoulder.

"Also better, it's different to work without him, although I've done it for centuries, it isn't the same anymore."

Together we walked to Miika's office.

"He needs a little bit more time, the improvements he makes are astonishing. But you can't bring him on the mission ahead. It's too dangerous, you know what's at stake."

"I know, he can help us end this war, I just hope he's ready in time" I said as a walked up to Miika's desk where old parchments were scattered around the desk. I bend over the desk and looked at some of the paperwork.

"What you've found out about that god?"

Miika sat down in his big chair across from me.

"According to the Rogue Bible, It's a combination of the blood from every elder, and the DNA of Carmilla…" Miika pointed out some ancient scripts. I had to dig deep in my memory to remember how to read this long forgotten language.

"Carmilla? THE Carmilla? As in Carmilla Karnstein?" This made my neurons fire. She had been dead and buried for centuries. In fact her very existence was doubted among the vampires. To many of them she was nothing more than a mortals bedtime story. Could this even be possible?

I looked at Miika, if anything like this could be true it was concerning to say the least.

"We've got it all locked up in the cellar. If they want it, they've got to work for it." I flashed my fangs I was ready for a battle with some lycans any day.

"They will, one of these days, they will"

"They'll have the help of every lycan in this area. Vampires and Lycans combined overpower us. We can't stop them, they will get what they need, but we will make it hard for them to get it. It hurts me to say, but their Bible has a prophecy that actually seems to be true, and it's not in our favor."

I could read in Miika's eyes that he was worried, Miika never worried.

It scared me, I felt small, tiny, not sure of myself. I just wanted to crawl away in a dark corner.

Miika stepped in and hugged me. Even though I'm no fan of physical contact Miika was like my father, I felt safe around him. But his eyes told me that he might not be able to keep us all safe this time. We would fight, and resist even if we had to give our lives.

Its something I do on a regular basis, but for the first time I was afraid to lose what I had build up.

Everything has changed since I found Bardulf, including me.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Bardulf, get out of your room! I've got a favor to ask!" Miika had made his way down the long corridors of the mansion and now leading to the door of our stranger. He didn't look the way he did before, for the first time he was scared. And he never would have thought, he would need the help of a half Lycan.

The door opened and Bardulf peeked through the small opening, he lookedbewildered.

"What is it Miika?" Amazement could clearly be read in his eyes. The vampire lord himself, at his door, this could never be good.

"I need your help. We need to talk in private."

"I'll get decent, give me a moment please."

He shut the door before Miika who was surprised that he said please. He'd shut himself off from the world for almost 2 months now, and he actually managed to learn some manners.

After a few minutes Bardulf came out of his room. He had his hair, which was considerably longer then last time, it was hanging below his shoulder blades, neatly combed backwards.

He shaved his face and did it without a single cut.

He was wearing black trousers with a black button-down shirt over it. Around his neck was a black shoelace tie. Over it all was a black silk jacket. No longer his long coat, but a mid-length silk jacket!

It looked like he walked out of a 50's gangster movie, but it really suited him. It was better than most of the modern-day Hawaii or fur-coat stuff.

"Walk with me."

Miika guided him through the long hallways from the mansion.

The walls and ceilings were covered with ancient spells. It was time to show Bardulf our greatest strength but simultaneously, our greatest weakness.

"Bardulf, you noticed the text on the ceilings and walls. They're written in an ancient language. It's so old that we cannot trace back where it comes from, and what it's called. Although, when you turn vampire, you can read it like it was your mother language."

"Vampire Language?" He asked me.

"Something like that. The only thing is, we can only read it. We can't write or speak it, only translate."

"What does it mean?"

He asked that question without hesitation. He had only asked it once when he came in for the first time, and never again. He now knew it was the right time.

"Those passages are placed there to keep the light out. As you know, we burn in sunlight, but a simple roof isn't protection enough against a well planned Lycan attack. When they take out the roof, we'd just die, but because of those passages, it will always stay dark when you stand beneath it."

"Is it only protection?"

"No. I'll show you a book I've got."

Miika hesitated, he wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. Miika was one of the most tolerant vampire lords there was, sharing his wealth with non-pure bloods the same way as he would pure bloods. But sharing it with a lycan, this was a fundamental part in our existence, would he be able to let that go?

Nathalka was gone to work on fase one of the mission on Transylvania. The other coven members were already evacuated, they needed to live so our kind could survive.

Tonight the big raid of the Lycans would begin, and Bardulf was the only protection the mansion has got left. Miika had no choice.

It saddened him that he would probably never talk to Nathalka again. And it saddens hi even more to think what Bardulf would have to do tonight…. He would have to break her heart, once more.

After a short walk through the Mansion, they arrived at Miika's office. The big wooden doors opened with the touch of a finger.

"Come on in, Bardulf."

Bardulf entered the room and stood still in the middle of it. His hands crossed behind his back and his feet sturdy on the floor.

His face was expressionless.

The door closed.

"I can tell you're worried, I can tell something is wrong. I've been feeling it for weeks now. The house is in a state of unrest. What's wrong, Miika? You need to tell me" He asked me.

Miika took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts into coherent sentences to make Bardulf even grasp a tiny bit of what was going on.

"Tonight, the Lycans will destroy the Mansion. They will confiscate the elder Blood stored in the dungeons. I have evacuated every person from the Mansion that needs to be kept alive for us to survive, but we will receive a vicious blow to our will tonight."

As Miika spoke, Bardulf's eyes grew big. He knew something was up, but trouble of this magnitude even made an impression on him.

Miika grabbed a book from the shelf.

"I've got you only two hours to learn you four spells that no one outside the Coven leaders have ever known. It's our last chance, this is what you've been training for."

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We prowled through the dark allies of the city in Transylvania. I was on my way to the most important mission I would ever be on. I was accompanied by four other death dealers. Erik, Mischa, Marcus and Tuomas were right behind me. This was a high risk mission so I handpicked the assault team myself. Even though Marcus had just made it into the death dealers ranks I trusted him. I had worked with these people for centuries, they were my friends for as long as I can remember and I trusted them with my immortal life.

Our spies have been doing a great job in monitoring the activities of another group of rogue vampires and lycans. There was something cooking, they were up to something. And anything that is good for them, isn't good for us, as Miika would put it.

We reached the city's end and an old factory doomed up in the distance.

I gave the halt signal and we spread out. Me, Erik and Mischa would go around front, Marcus and Tuomas would lead the assault through the back.

We reached the factory and I slowly pushed the door open.

It was very rusty and it took a great effort to push it open.

_The lycans must use another access._

Inside it smelled awful, like a sewer pipe on a hot day. I coughed a few times and slowly proceeded in, closely followed by Erik and Mischa. Inside it was darker than the night, I could hardly make out objects. Carefully I put one foot in front of another. It was quiet too quiet. I heard our leathers crackle as we proceeded in.

"Wait" I whispered. Our blue eyes lighting up to try to make out objects in the darkness of the factory. I got a strange feeling in my stomach, the kind of feeling you get when you know that somewhere thing's aren't right.

Quickly I tried to put the information of my surroundings together.

"Something is wrong" I said, as I concluded this wasn't a usual Lycan lair.

For one lycans were not quiet, and they didn't like living in complete darkness.

We took a few more steps forward. And all of a sudden someone switched the light on.

In reflex I covered my eyes with my arms. I was blinded by the light but quickly blinked my eyes to regain eyesight.

_This is wrong, this is really wrong. _I felt my heart racing, we were in trouble.

And just as I thought that I heard an iron chain come down. I saw Marcus and Tuomas come in from the back, loaded guns in their hands.

"Go back! It's a trap!" I yelled at them across the factory as a group of lycans dropped from the higher floors above them.

They opened fire at them and made their way back through the door from once they've came.

A group of lycans ran after them through the back door.

An iron confinement dropped from the sky and closed us in.

"FRAK!" I yelled, grabbing my guns firing at the lycans in the distance.

It didn't work, they just howled and stayed at a safe range.

Pretty soon we found guns aimed at us from all angles.

We were badly outnumbered 3 to 50… and from all dark corners of the factory, more lycans came forward.

"Lay down your weapons, you know when a battle is lost don't you Nathalka?" I heard a melodic female voice say.

_What? Who is that? And worse, why does it know my name._

"Do as she says" I directed my death dealers. If we wanted to survive we had to play our cards well.

At least Marcus and Tuomas got out, hopefully they made their escape. They might get back to Olavinlinna and report to Miika. It would be okay.. It had to be…

"Who are you?! Show yourself you coward!" I yelled. My heard was racing in my chest.

Although I was scared my voice didn't betray me.

"This is not the time for your tough act Nathalka, not when your life and the lives of your buddies hang in the balance" The stranger replied as I heard her approach. I could smell blood on her breath. She wasn't lycan … she was a vampire.

"Well to me you're nothing more than a traitor and a coward. Yes I know, I can smell you are vampire " I said it was uncomfortable to speak to someone I couldn't see.

I saw a dark figure cloaked and hooded approach from the distance. The face was masked, long hair was draped from her shoulders. I was sure I didn't know her. But still she made sure I wouldn't see her face.

The Lycans were ordered to open up a cage and take our guns and ammo from us.

Unwillingly I let the lycans take the guns and ammo clips from me and my fellow death dealers.

This was no time for heroics, we were heavily outnumbered.

The cloaked stranger walked into our cage and grabbed me by the throat and dragged me out of the cell. She held me up by my neck the tips of my toes dragging the floor.

I gulped in bits of air as she tried to choke the life from me.

"Nathaka… Miika's little pet… I'm sure we will have loads of fun with you" she said, her mask not moving an inch.

She threw me to the floor after a punch deep in my stomach. I landed with my back on the floor, curling up into a ball I coughed and tried to catch my breath again. My lungs filling themselves with precious oxygen. I felt two enormous paws grabbing me from behind, their nails digging deep into my flesh.

"Tie her up against that wall in the dungeon, and hang her buddies in the room next to her. I want her to hear them scream as we kill them off, one by one" The cloaked figure said as it laughed a scary high pitched laugh and walked away.

The skin on my throat bruised as I was violently dragged away and pinned up against a wall with my arms above my head. I saw Erik and Mischa also being dragged from the cage. Erik hissed aggressively at their captors. One of the lycans shut him up by smashing his head into the nearest wall blacking him out. Both of them where dragged out my sight. But from the sounds I heard they were also hung from chains.

It would be okay, soon we'd get out of here.

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"Why didn't you leave?" I asked Miika. I wasn't expecting a response.

"What if the Lycans show up, find all they need in this mansion, and there isn't one vampire that will fight them, not one elder to protect our bloodline. They'd think it was a trap, and they will kill everything that comes in their path to find the truth, although, there is no truth. The death toll would be enormous and unnecessary."

"What you want me to learn?"

"Bite me."

"What the hell?" I shot into my defensive mode, what was he saying?

"You're part Lycan. Bite me. You'll receive all you need to know through my blood."

"You're crazy, Miika, I can't bite you!" I didn't like where this was going. I wasn't a blood drinker!

"DO IT!"

"But…" I hesitated, not smart in front of Miika.

"DO IT" His eyes turned blue and shot thunder at me.

At this point he reached out to me, grabbed my head with his left hand, and pulled me towards him. It felt like my head would let go of my neck.

I opened my mouth to release a scream of pain. My teeth were exposed, and Miika forced them into his own neck.

I felt my teeth bite through the soft vampire skin. The metallic taste of his blood filled my mouth and nose. I felt sick, but before I could think about it, all went dark in front of my eyes.

"DRINK IT!" Miika yelled at me.

It was like someone plugged in a computer in my brain, and was copying data with high speed into my memory. I saw every book that Miika had ever read, every life he had taken, every soul he loved, I saw Nathalka young and lost without her family, every fight he won and lost. I was drinking his mind.

"Good, absorb it."

I felt Miika getting weaker while I got stronger. I managed to release myself from his grip. The world was glowing, making it easier for me to see. Everything seemed clearer now.

"You're done. I can see it. You're mind is stronger than your body."

Miika looked at me and smiled.

"Show me a trick" He said "And make it a good one."

I closed my eyes, crossed my hands with the palms faced to each other.

Time froze. I could move like everything was normal, but I could see the dust hang still in the air. A drop of sweat was falling from Miika's chin, but it had stopped in mid-air.

Slowly I walked towards the wall. I raised my hand and the bricks moved apart like a automated door.

I made a doorway to the outside world, but I couldn't see anything. After a few seconds it just hit me. Time had stopped, even light didn't travel, so there wasn't any reflection from anything outside this room.

Time started. I could see the outside world. It was dark, but not pitch black. The full moon made everything visible. It was as bright as a night could ever get.

"You can stop time, do you know why?" Miika asked me.

"I'm above the laws of nature. I'm not a part of this world, this universe, this time anymore."

"Correct. But it doesn't mean you're invulnerable. Your mind has been set free, but your body will always be limited by the physics, laws and timeline of the universe. You're not God".

At this moment, the doors exploded. Splinters were flying everywhere and were scratching my skin. I felt the warm blood soak my shirt.

I could hear the heavy breathing of the animals that were waiting for us outside the door.

It didn't take long for the bullets to fly through the air, and the first drops of blood to fall on the floor. It had begun.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"We have to go back!" Markus yelled in panic at Tuomas after they ran for a few kilometers.

"Did you see those guys, there is nothing we can do for them now!" Tuomas said as he grabbed Markus his shoulders.

"The only thing we can do is get out of here alive" Tuomas said. He saw the panic in Markus' eyes. And as horrible as it was, he admitted he feared for their friends' lives as well.

"Nathalka is my sister, man! She's the only one I've got!" Markus said tears welled up in his eyes not from emotion, but from the pure hatred he harbored for their attackers. "She could get killed!"

"I know, but the two of us are no match against them, we need to get back to the mansion" Tuomas said. "You know we can't go back. If we do that we'll get killed and Nathalka and the others will never stand a chance "

He grabbed Markus by the arm and they ran off into the forest, to the safe house, where they would stay during daytime.

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"The elder and the Light One are here! Get them to me alive! ALIVE!"

My claws are itching. I have been waiting to conquer this mansion ever since I was made leader of the pack.

A young vampire soldier came forward with his weapon. A pathetic Colt .44 with silver nitrate bullets. The vampire had every chance to kill me, but he hesitated, this race was weak, it deserved to die. I grabbed his gun and smashed it into his head. The barrel of the gun was smashed through the skull of the Vampire.

I took a bite out of the neck of the soldier.

With all the air in my body, I emitted a deep growl. I then pulled the trigger of the gun, shooting a bullet directly into the head of the Vampire. The Vampire started to smolder, and fell down in ashes.

"Group! Gather round, we've got incoming!"

A large army was heading towards my warriors. It was clear that these soldiers were more experienced than the first wave was. That was clearly just for weakening the wolves.

"Leave nothing in one peace! Eat them!"

The wolves were rushing towards the army. I heard the guns firing the bullets, and saw some of my men being thrown backwards by the impact of the bullets and the liquid silver eating its way through their veins.

After that short burst of bullets, It was necessary for them to reload. It was time for us to eat. During those few seconds, I could see my family devour the soft flesh of the vampire soldiers.

I felt proud

"Is it done yet?!" I asked them. The army was thinning out, this all went to easy.

As soon as I thought that, it happened.

A giant shockwave blew back all of the wolves. It tore the most of them to multiple pieces. It was a horrible sight, because it didn't kill them instantly. The blood, guts and limbs weren't that horrible, it was the screams, the cowardly begging for death from my soldiers. The weak ones died, it was natural selection.

A man in black suit walked out of the red vapor that filled the air. The thin mist of blood fell down and revealed my worst enemy. I smiled. Finally a good fight.

The leftover vampires and wolves were finishing each other off while The Light One and I were walking towards each other. The bullets were flying between us, the dust from the broken tiles and shot up walls were flying like birds through the room.

A vampire soldier was pushed in front of my feet. I picked him up, looked him in the eye and saw the fear that compelled him to such bravery. I tore him in two pieces, and threw one each way.

"I need you to stop" The Light One said. I laughed back at him and hit him with my claw. I scratches his face, felt his skin under my finger nails. The adrenaline was rushing through my body and I didn't even feel his fist hitting my chest. Was he just weak? Or was he holding back? Time to find out…

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Slowly I opened my eyes as I saw a blurry world refocus itself.

Bloodstreams flowed from my face dripping on the floor of the dungeon.

It has been days since we've been captivated. Since a day I stopped hearing from my fellow kin.

_Were they still alive? I had no idea…. was I still alive?_ I thought so.

_I'm bleeding, so I'm still alive._

I couldn't feel my hands, they were still tied above me in an awkward position. My leathers where ripped by the whip lashes they gave me two nights ago. _Was it two nights?_ It was hard to keep track of time. My wounds stopped regenerating after a few nights of beating and bleeding.

The iron smell of my own blood made my fangs water. I'd give anything for a drop of blood, any blood.

I tried to move my body, let some blood flow into my limps. An agonizing pain came from my left side where I had been cut by a short blade. _Perhaps a piece of blade stuck in the wound. If only I could get it out. _

Why didn't they just kill me? They want me, perhaps ransom me to Miika? I don't know, what is their plan? No, whoever is in charge likes torture too much. I hope Erik and Mischa are okay.

I heard someone picking at the lock and the big wooden door to my confinement blew open.

An old lycan came in with two silver whips, grinning from ear to ear.

"What do you want from me?!" I yelled as I felt the lashes scratched open my just healed wounds.

"I want you to break, Nathalka"

His whip cracked on my back, parting the flesh as if it were mere cloth.

I pressed my lips tight together, I wouldn't scream, not for their pleasure.

Hot tears flowed down my face as my back started bleeding severely.

_Why couldn't they just kill me. Don't give up on Miika. Not yet…_

After 3 days of torture… I screamed…

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I felt the blood slide down my face from the wound the Lycan gave me.

He struck me by surprise. It wasn't that I didn't see the claw coming, but it was the fact that I felt his strength when he came closer to me. His immense power overwhelmed me, partially because I never felt something like this before.

I punched him on his heart. It should have stopped every normal Lycan, but not this one.

"Miika! Get yourself out of here!" I yelled at him. He turned around and walked slowly towards his chamber. I turned my head a little to be able to see him in the corner of my eye. I saw him dodge an attacking wolf as if it was in slow motion. Miika was invincible, why was he so afraid of losing this battle?

I lost my focus once more, and felt the two Lycan claws clamp around my head. He pulled me down and smashed his knee into my teeth. It felt like my brain shattered and I noticed the iron taste of blood in my mouth.

I felt dizzy and fell on my knees. When I opened my eyes and focused on my foe, he came at me once more. He hit me with his full fist on my left temple. The blow threw me to the other side of the hall where I hit the wall.

"Come on Light One. Resist! Fight back! If you're the best the Vampires have…"

Before he could finish his sentence, I jumped up and froze time. Everything looked like it was in night vision again. It was exactly like I felt with the Rogue Vampires, but stronger. I could see every fiber of the wolf's fur and saw his saliva hanging still in the air as perfect round drops.

I walked around him and raised my fist to hit him in the back of the head. Time got normal again and I lowered my fist. The punch was so hard that the wolf collapsed and the shockwave blew out the tiles of the floor. He jumped up and kicked me in the head. He was still way too fast.

I rolled over in mid air, aiming my feet to the wall. When I reached the wall, I pushed myself of it back towards the Lycan. It felt like flying. I opened my arms and hit the Lycan head on, grabbing him in mid-air and pushing him towards the wall. I smashed him through it. The wall collapsed and the full moon threw his rays of light inside the hall. The biggest mistake I ever made.

Every Lycan in the room grew 2 meters, they stopped and howled to the moon, giving the remaining vampires enough time to finish a few Lycans with some silver nitrate bullets.

The one I was fighting stood up and walked towards me. He grabbed my head with one claw and I thought he'd crush it. I felt life flow out of my body, turning my world all black. He threw me inside the hall again and left me for dead on the ground. I couldn't get up, couldn't move my legs and couldn't focus on my enemy.

A wolf came shouting into the hall.

"I got the blood! We're just missing one!"

"It seems like I've got to finish you off right now. It's a shame I couldn't get a good fight out of you." Said my attacker.

His mouth opened, exposing his fangs. I closed my eyes, preparing for his bite.

I heard a growl coming out of the depth of his bowels. Warm blood splattered over my face. It didn't hurt at all, which was relaxed me a bit.

Shame it should end like this, after all their work…


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The remaining Lycan warriors arrived back at their lair in Joensuu. Just in time for the moonlight to be replaced by rays of warm sun. The beasts were transforming back to their original form. Their fur shortened back to normal body hair. Their bodies were glistening in the light of dawn.

"Have you got what you've been send for?" A deep voice growled out of the bowels of the castles.

"I have sir! There are 10 packets of blood!" The leader of the Lycan pack replied.

"10? There were 11 original Vampires! Where is the 11th pack of blood!"

"The 11th elder was still alive. They didn't store his blood in packs. Luckily I bit him before he got killed, or else I wouldn't had the chance to taste his blood. I'm positive it was the 11th Elder!"

"Is he, still alive?"

"Barely sir. He threw himself in front of the White Wolf to spare his life."

"The Light One must be more powerful than we can imagine. An elder would never sacrifice his own life for the safety of a normal vampire, let alone, a half Lycan one. Bring him to me!"

4 Lycans walked into the castle carrying a large black coffin.

"Be careful that he will not be exposed to sunlight! It would vaporize his blood and all of this will be for nothing!"

The Lycan turned himself to the Pack Leader.

"You have done a good job. We will resurrect our Dark Vampire soon, in Transylvania. The origins of Dracula"

All of the remaining Lycans followed the four carrying the coffin. It looked like a funeral, but to those who knew their intensions, it would be the start of a new life.

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"What the hell happened here?" Markus asked as he saw fire and smoke come from the mansion as the helicopter flew over Olavinlinna.

"I don't know, but it's not good" Tuomas answered. He put the helicopter down at the platform behind the castle. With drawn guns they made their way through the back door of the mansion.

There were lycan bodies everywhere. Most of the building was destroyed, and as far as the eye could see, no living creature made it out alive.

"O my god what happened" Markus asked again as they scouted the castle.

When they arrived in the main hall they saw a figure sitting still on the balustrade.

They moved closer, it was Bardulf. But there was something different about him.

As if his aura was glowing fiercely.

"Bardulf!" Markus said.

He looked up, his eyes glowing a white glow. Markus held back for a second. This was not the Bardulf he had known.

"Markus!" Bardulf said. "It's okay now, we are safe now" he said calm and monotone.

Slowly he's eyes turned back to their original color.

Markus still didn't trust the situation.

"Where are the others?"

With cat-like agility Bardulf jumped off the balustrade and he landed in front of Markus and Tuomas.

"They're safe, Miika got them evacuated before the raid started" Bardulf answered.

"Where's the rest of your group Markus? Where's Nathalka" His impenetrable face changed. There was concern to be read.

"It was an ambush. Transylvania, just like we've got you, the White Wolf, they have found a Black Vampire. We were outnumbered. Nathalka, Erik and Mischa got captured. We barely made it out alive. I don't know if they are still alive" Markus said staring at the floor.

He fell quiet for a few minutes. He saw Bardulf was thinking.

"Where's Miika?" He finally asked, but he feared he didn't want to know the answer.

"Miika didn't make it, he couldn't .. he .. had to give his life to save the coven" Bardulf answered while lowering his eyes to the floor out of respect for the fall of this great leader.

As he spoke a hand full of death dealers came from Miika's office, their faces stained with tears.

Bardulf spoke, directing all of them "We must mourn our deaths later, right now we still have the change to deal with this Lycan scum and save our fellow soldiers"

Bardulf climbed upon a broken pillar to be able to see every last one of the soldiers. There were only 30 soldiers and 3 death dealers left.

"My fellow soldiers! We are with but a few, we must strike quickly. The wolves have gathered our blood reserves. According to the legends, they will be able to create the ultimate weapon. A Dark Vampire. Just like I'm a White Wolf, they will have their warrior. They have taken Miika. He holds the last of the blood they need, the blood of the original Vampire."

"He was Dracula?" Asked Markus.

"No" Bardulf replied.

"He was Judas. He was cursed by god to roam the world forever and could not die. He was the first true Vampire. The Wolves are a special breed, they evolved from those who were cursed by God, through pure hatred for all that is living. They are allergic to silver, because of the silver 30 silver coins Judas got for betraying Jesus. In pure guilt, he hung himself from an Aspen tree. God cursed him so he could not die. A vampire cannot be killed with a wooden stake, unless it's made from the wood of an Aspen tree. Miika never killed when he became a Vampire. He never turned anyone. "

"How do you know all this?"

"Miika let me consume him. His memories run through my blood. I know where the wolves are hiding. They moved from Joensuu… To classical Transylvania."

Markus turned around to speak to the soldiers.

"Men! Gather round! We need one hell of a strategy to beat them!"

We sure would, 30 versus 3000.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Lightning lit up the black sky. The final fight would be held before dawn came up.

A soldier walked up to me, he was strapped up in armor and ammunition for his weapon.

As I looked to the rest of the soldiers, I noticed they all were ready.

"It's time to recap the strategy, Sir"

"Thank you" I replied.

"Soldiers, it is time! We know how their lair looks like, but we'll never know for sure how their defense will be put up. They know Tuomas and Markus have escaped, and they know they will be back for their kinsman. The most logical line of defense is in front of the factory, at the gates. Although, the gates will probably be defended by electrical equipment! UV Lamps will most likely to be set up at the gates, so I'll be the one to walk through them. It will trigger the alarm, and most of the wolves will be on the courtyard, including their leader. Either the leader of the pack, or the leader of all the wolves. At this point, the assigned groups of 5 Vampires will climb over the walls at the back of the factory. The 3 death dealers will be between them, to raise the probability of survival for at least one of them. This might be the last night of your lives. Kill as much as you can, don't hold back, don't be afraid for sunlight, garlic or whatever they come up with. Nature will help. The lightning outside is a sign. The scales of good and evil are out of balance, and nature cannot cope with it. It destroys itself. It will also destroy the Wolves, we just need to give her some time, but when the factory has been swallowed by Mother Nature, it will be all over. Sadly, we will be in the middle of it. Those who do not want to risk their lives, may say so now. There are enough rogue Vampires and denials in the world to reproduce our race. But do we really wan't them to continue our bloodline? We must fight, fight for what we have accieved and fight for what we might accieve in the future.

It will not be the end of our legacy, but the end of a chapter. Make it count. This won't be an honest or fair fight, it won't be about redemption or vengeance, it's about honor and survival. As in the words of Churchill;' It is no use saying 'we are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary"

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Unidentifiable words came from Nathalka's lips. She had lost her mind.

The stairs crackled and the dungeon doors opened. The hooded figure walked in.

Slowly Nathalka looked up, clearly surprised by the fact that not a lycan walked in but a vampire.

The hooded figure walked closer and reached her hand out to Nathalka, slowly stroked the side of her cheek. Nathalka closed her eyes, slowly to absorb this act of kindness.

'I hope they haven't hurt you too much, I would hate it if they hurt you too much' the melodic voice of the hooded figure sung.

She pulled her hand back and before Nathalka could blink she backhanded her across the face.

'Ahw, I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you' the voice continued playing with Nathalka's head.

She lifted her cloak off and reviled the perfect face with blinking dark brown eyes, an ivory perfect white skin and long silk black hair. She was stunning.

She leaned forward closer to Nathalka's face. She tilted her head and gently kissed her lips.

"Do you know what the problem is?" The vampire asked.

"Your kind has grown soft, weak, decadent. You've forgotten the travesty of your births you've forgotten the curse you live under" She spoke her words as an enchanted melody.

"We were the rulers of the world. The world trembled in fear by the thought of us. But now… protecting mortals? Protecting humans? Drinking synthetic blood to save their miserable little lives?" She moved closer again but this time she didn't look as friendly

"You guys are pathetic! Not worthy of the title vampire!" she smacked Nathalka across the face for a second time and her lips began to bleed.

Her face changed again, she smiled and looked sweet and innocent. She stroked Nathalka's hair from her face.

"Don't you see? You leave me no choice, I need to protect the species" she said as she walked to the back of the room where the table of torture instruments was located. She run her silk fingers over the instruments and stopped when she found a pair of pliers.

She played with the thing for a few moments then walked back to Nathalka.

Nathalka started moving, making her chains rankle as begane to dawn on her what was about to happen.

"This gives me no pleasure at all, you should know that" The vampire sang as she grabbed Nathalka's face with one hand and pushing her jaws open. She tried to fight it, but the stranger was way stronger.

Nathalka tried to scream but the only thing that came out was a pathetic shriek.

With the pliers the vampires got hold of her fang and with a sickening crack pulled it lose.

Fresh tears ran down Nathalka's face as she tried to scream and fight the stranger off.

But her body would no longer obey her will, it was too weak. She could only watch helplessly as the stranger pulled her second fang free. Blood streaming from her mouth down her throat as the stranger let her go. One last agonizing scream of defeat found its way from her throat but then she just hung from her bounds, silently.

She had given up


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Vampires are very delicate and discreet creatures. As I watched them making formations at the back of the Lycan factory, I could smell the filthy stench of Wolven sweat. The vampires didn't make a sound, they never trod on any rotten wood or dead leafs.

As they took their position at the bottom of the old factory, I turned around and slowly walked around the factory, heading for the main gate.

Thunder cracked in the distance and rain started to fall. It smelled delicious. The smell of a dying wood in the rain, the smell of life rising out of its carrier and float up towards the sky, ready to fall down and start the cycle all over again. The cycle of nature. We were not here to save any of our species, we were here to save the Earth, to balance the forces.

The gates came in sight. It was lit by UV lights. It had a blue-ish glow.

I opened my coat. I was wearing my long coat since many, many months. I unclipped my gun holster and laid my hand on the grip of my pistol. Slowly I pulled it out, clicked the safety off and aimed it at the gate. Lightning struck a tree behind me.

The tree started to boil instantaneously and blew up into millions fragments of wood. I felt some pieces penetrate the skin on my back. I raised my arm, and emptied the clip on the gate. Silver nitrate bullets flew through the air.

With a few low pops they shoot through the wood. I waited for a few seconds… It was silent… Suddenly I could smell it, the smell of burned Lycan flesh. They started to scream, I must have hit three or four wolves. They were burning, dying, there was nothing to save them.

The big doors went open.

"BARDULF!" a low voice thundered through the air.

The leader of the pack came walking towards me. I just stood there, in the rain, in the cold.

"So the fight is on! You've got nobody left, just a few soldiers, you cannot win."

"It's not about winning or losing, it's not about living or dying, it's just about good and evil."

The Lycan charged towards me, as fast as I had never seen any creature run before. Suddenly I felt fear, I hoped that I could master the powers of Miika.

He raised his fist, and I raised mine. We punched them towards each other and our knuckles made contact. The Lycan stood still, there was evil in his eyes. I didn't move a muscle. I took a deep breath and kicked the Lycan in his crotch. It was below the belt, but he earned it.

All the other Lycans came rushing towards us, and at that moment, my soldiers jumped over the walls, taking out the wolves from behind. They slayed them, humiliated them, destroyed them. Lycans were falling with the dozens by the hands of only 30 Vampires. The death dealers moved as quickly as they could towards the UV lamps. Within a few seconds, everything got pitch black. I could see clearly, I felt everything around me.

"AMBUSH!" I yelled to my soldiers.

It was too late for the most of them. Spikes were launched out of the ground, it was a horrible defense mechanism. The vampires got impaled. It didn't kill them, it just pierced their bodies and made them scream and beg for death.

The remaining soldiers tried to help their wounded friends, but they only made it worse. By every attempt to release one vampire from a deadly spike, they only tore his flesh more of his bones. It was a lost cause. I had to take them away, make them leave their wounded friends and fellow soldiers to die. Only 18 of us left. 3 Death dealers, 14 soldiers and me.

"Head on forward. We need to find Nathalka."

"We don't know where the hell she is!" Markus said.

"But if we get her, it's one more Death Dealer that can aid us" Tuomas said.

"Tuomas, you take the 14 soldiers, and barricade yourself in the main hall. The Lycans know we are here, but it's more important for them to finish their genetic mutation than to kill us. The Lycans aren't known for their innovative design, so I'm almost sure that the prisons are directly below us. You can see it by the spikes out in the court yard. They form squares, prison blocks. I'm going down with Markus."

"Zool, you find Mischa and Erik. They are through the second door on the left."

"How do you know that, Bardulf?" Zool asked me.

"I can see them…"

They all understood what I meant. But they did not know that I actually could see them. The natural boundaries have fallen for me.

Zool shot down the door to the older cells and disappeard into the darkness. Only flashes of light came out of the room when a gun was fired. The smell of burned Lycan flesh comforted us all.

We broke down the doors, ready for another wave of Lycans to attack us, but to our surprise, the entire Hallway was empty.

Just when I thought it was empty a group of Lycans charged in.

Markus fought them off with passion.

"Bardulf GO! Get Nathalka!" he yelled

"But you.." I replied

"There is no time! I need you to get her to safety!" Markus said as he fought the lycans back.

"Barricade yourself in here, I will be back, I know you will be able to survive that long" I commanded the soldiers.

I ran off into the darkness and made my way down to the dungeons.

The door to the dungeon opened and the stench of rotten flesh filled my nostrils.

A stench coming from the lifeless body of Nathalka hanging from the wall at the other end of the dungeon.

"We're here.. We're here Nathalka!" I tried to comfort her in any way.

The truth was, I was pretty sure she didn't hear me and I was only trying to comfort myself.

I didn't even know she was still alive. She was hanging from the wall dried blood stained the floor, her blood I realized. Pieces of her clothing and pieces of flesh hung from her limp body.

You could hardly tell ripped flesh and ripped cloth apart, they did quite a number on her.

My eyes started to tear up. She didn't look like she was going to make it, I felt like I had failed her. Failed Miika when I said I'd keep her safe.

I saw her smile and closing her eyes.

"Nathalka!" I ran towards her lifting her face in my hands.

Her eyes were swollen with bruises, she didn't look half like the person I met some months ago.

If I didn't know better I would've said it wasn't her. I didn't want it to be her, I wanted to deny that. But in my heart I know it was.

I unlocked the chains above her head and her body fell limp to the floor just before she hit the ground I captured her in my arms.

"Nathalka please! Come one open up your eyes please!"

I shook her body in my arms her torn open flesh wounds sticking to my clothes.

Blood, she needs blood.

I grabbed a small dagger I carried with me in my boot and slashed it across my wrist. A sharp stinging pain went through my system as my blood began to flow from the newly parted flesh.

I held my bleeding wrist near her mouth hoping she would take the liquid.

I opened her mouth with one hand and noticed her gums were bleeding and her fangs were missing.

_My gods what have they done_

"Come on, you need to drink!" she didn't move "COME ONE, You never gave up on anything, not even on me when I was dangerous for you! Now DRINK! DRINK!" I shook her body in my arms. She didn't give up on me, I couldn't give up on her.

My blood stained her lips but she wouldn't move.

Tears mixed with my blood flowed down her neck and dripped to the floor.

"I can't let you leave Nathalka, not now and not like this. It's not like you!" I said in another attempt to make her listen.

"We need you! Come on!" I said, ready to give up.

"I need you…."

Her eyes shot open glowing their familiar blue glow. She parted her lips taking my crimson juice into her system. It was a weird feeling to feel her drink from my life's juice. It didn't hurt, on the contrary, it was the most rewarding feeling I had ever had.

When I started to feel dizzy I softly pulled my bleeding wrist from Nathalka's lips.

Her head fell back in my arms, but now she looked me in the eye.

"You came" she said, her throat hoarse from her screaming.

"Of course I did! You have no idea! This thing is even bigger than we've ever thought" I answered her. Realizing that right now was perhaps not the right time to inform her about the conspiracy.

"What about Erik and Mischa" she asked.

"Zool is getting them out of their holding cells. I do not know how they are yet. Tuomas is upstairs with our last soldiers, holding off the Lycans."

For a moment I saw a sign of relief in her tortured eyes.

"It's going to be okay Nathalka, I promise you. You need to rest now"

I lifted her tiny body into my arms and was surprised again of how light she was.

I carried her across the dungeon, upstairs she was already out again.

At top of the stairs Markus was waiting for us, he had managed to overcome the lycan attack. He was a lot stronger than most gave him credit for.

"My gods Nathalka, what did they do!" Markus cried out as her ran towards Bardulf.

He stroked her hair out of her face. "Is she still alive?" he asked, fear staining his voice.

"Barely, there is nothing we can do for her now. Take her to the helicopter she will be safe there. We have to overcome this battle, else all her suffering has been for nothing" I said and meant it.

"Meet me back in the hallway, I need you to fight by my side"

Gently I placed Nathalka's body in Markus' arms.

Markus carried her outside the factory towards the helicopters. Gently her put her down and wrapped her in a blanked.

"I swear to you sis, I will find the person who did this to you. And he will pay with his life" a tear rolled down his face. Gently he placed a kiss on her forehead "I swear to you I will"

He whipped his face and with new found courage he stepped into the rain and charged towards the factory. He clipped some new ammo into his guns.

Time, for retribution.


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

I rushed up the stairs, I didn't know how long they would be able to hold the lycans back. They needed me and I hoped Markus would be back soon.

In the hallway I found Zool again

"I found Erik, he's allright. Mischa didn't make it…"

"That means we have another Death Dealers in our squad. You have put up a nice defense.." I said with a little surprise in his voice.

"I'm the frakking strategic specialist, what did you expect?" Zool said while plunging a dagger in a lycan's chest.

I crushed a Lycan skull with my boot.

"It will end tonight." I said, and pulled out my guns.

Markus soon joined us and we infiltrated deeper into the castle.

I fired into the wall at the left of us. I emptied both my clips in it, 24 bullets. I reloaded, and shot again. 48 holes in the wall. I walked towards it, and kicked an improvised door into the wall.

We waited for the dust to settle, but before it was gone, guns drawn I stepped inside.

The soldiers stormed the next room with their guns drawn. It was pitch black. I could see everything. I looked around and focused myself on a strange metal object at the end of the room. There was no one in the room.

"Get out, GET OUT NOW!"

I suddenly realized what that metal object was for, how could I be so stupid! It was already too late. Only Markus, Erik, Tuomas and 10 soldiers made it out.

The UV lights turned on and the room was filled with a purple/blue light. 8 Vampires burned to death. Their screams were horrible and the smell even worse. They gave off a bright red light as the flames melted their eyes and shot out of their mouths.

I run towards the other side of the room and smashed into the metal cage. It was a power generator. I destroyed it with a few blows with my bare hands. I suffered some huge electrical shocks that made my muscles stretch over their limits. I could feel them break, tear apart, like bags of sand were opened and released into my joints.

Normal lights came on, and doors were opened at 3 sides of the room.

Hordes of Lycans came rushing in. I commanded my soldiers and Death Dealers to come back me up. They formed a solid line behind me.

"Soldiers! This is it! This is the end! Open fire and make your last minutes count!"

This was a huge morale boost for my vampires. To my surprise, every bullet was a direct hit into the head of a lycan. Everything went in slow motion once again. I could see bullets flying, dozens of them, and taking out dozens of Lycans. I slowly walked forward, raised my hand and focused. I could channel all my power towards the wall. The bricks were shaking and falling apart. They broke up to dust, they shattered and shot through the room. Behind the wall, there was a giant throne. Next to the throne, there were 10 IV stands next to it, and one large steel case with tubes running out of them. Every IV was filled with blood, the elders blood, and it wasn't hard to imagine that Miika was in the metal case. Impaled with wooden stakes, draining every last drop of blood out of him, to feed to that person that was on the throne.

Who I saw was not what I expected. I expected Dracula or some kind of mythical being. But it was a woman.

"Welcome Bardulf, white wolf. You come to rescue your precious friends? Or that person you secretly love, desire?" her voice was enchanting like a sirens call.

"Who are you!" I replied.

"Carmilla, I'm the official first vampire" She replied as she smiled slyly.

"But, Miika…" I started but she never allowed me to finish.

"Miika was never acknowledged as the first vampire. He was a Legend, I am official, the real thing baby. Just like Dracula. I also got cursed by God to roam the earth forever, although unlike Miika I stuck to my true nature.

I was the one who created Vlad Dracul, made him the most powerfull vampire in the book" she said as she looked around the room with dreamy eyes. "It was a sad thing that he died, but he was sloppy. He left a mess"

"How come I have never heard of you?" I asked her fighting hard not to fall under her spell. She was stunningly beautifull.

"Maybe you should read into mortal books a bit more my dear Bardulf" she said and giggeled like a young girl. "Oh that's right, now that you hang out with the vampires you intend to forget your own mortality isn't that?" she looked me straight in the eye.

Scary as it was I had to confess, I often forgot that I wasn't one of the immortals like the vampires I fought aside. My life had an expiration date.

"After I turned Vlad Dracul into a vampire, God took me. He killed me, send me to hell. That is an even worse punishment than his angels got. They were only send to earth. Only one angel was send to hell by God, his name was Lucifer. Only one human was send to hell by God. That was me. But the Lycans recreated me, with a mix of their blood, and your precious vampire elder blood. I am the best of both species. The Lycans recreated me, they released me from the infernal prison."

Miika's memories came up in my head. The book of the dead, he learned me the dead vampire language, taught me the spells of the undead.

"Prædicta omnia, quatenus opus sit…" I started to chant without really realizing what I was doing.

"Shut the hell up! I'll kill you!" her eyes turning to an infernal red color

"Repeti possunt, donec obsessus sit omnino liberatus." I continued, I didn't have control over my own being.

Carmilla her eyes were wide open when my hand hit her breast. She got kicked off her throne and landed a few meter away.

I heared her hiss angrily from the darkness of a corner.

Her force was powerfull, more powerfull than any other I had ever encountered.

All I knew whas that she would die tonight, and she'd probably take me with her.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Carmilla turned towards me. Her eyes were glowing bright red. She was so beautiful. Her breasts were full and pale, her legs were long and smooth. Her hair was as dark as the night. She wore a red dress that pushed up her breasts and showed her muscled arms, her strength. She walked with the elegance of an angel. But I felt her true nature fill the room.

I had a weird feeling. She was me, she was my equal. We were both different sides of the same coin.

"I know you cannot resist loving me Bardulf. I love you too. We need to be together, we can rule the world together. We are the mythical beings that religion has feared all those millennia." Her voice was like a soft melody ringing in my ears.

"I cannot love you, Carmilla. We will need eachother, forever. Your creation has released my ultimate strength. The balance is equal. You are evil, I am good. You are darkness, I am light. You are fire, I am water. If I die, you die. If you die, I die." I realized we didn't speak out loud. We looked each other in the eye but it seemed the words were formed in our heads.

"Why die if we can both live? I died once, and I assure you, it is boring. Eternal life, in heaven or hell, is all the same. You can't experience new things for eternity, there is no one to torture or love, no sadness or happiness. Heaven is bliss, but there is no bliss without misery. It is nothing just emptiness." She said as she moved closer.

"You're right. People do not deserve this earth, they destroy it. Human race is evil, destructive. But Nature deserves this planet, and I will gladly sacrifice myself to save it." I replied as she stroked my face with her cool hand as a lover.

I slipped out a knife from holster, and planted it against my neck.

"I will not beat around the bush any longer, my death is your death, so say goodbye."

I slit my throat… I had trouble breathing, felled the warm blood soak my shirt… Not my coat… not my beautiful coat. It became blurry, I heard Carmilla scream.

I coughed up some blood, it was disgusting. It took ages before the blood would have completely left my body. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't breathe so I was suffocating, bleeding to death, squirming for air in agony at the same time… couldn't I just pierce my heart?

Why didn't I die.… I closed my eyes… hoping to see the light, or eternal darkness, I couldn't care anymore.

I heard laughing… Carmilla… The last thing I'd hear was the laugh of Carmilla… Laugh?

From de distance I heard screaming.

Markus?

A second scream followed. I opened my eyes. Markus had pierced the heart of Carmilla with a large wooden stake. I could see the ornaments from the door on the wood. Aspen wood… The doors were made from Aspen wood… A weapon to use against vampires… But Carmilla didn't die…

"I am NOT that kind of Vampire you silly boy! I am created from Vampire blood, but I'm not a direct descendant from Judas! Miika, was such a weakling, he wasn't worth the title vampire!" Carmilla spat.

"Not worthy? And that's for you to decide? Just like my sister was unworthy?" Markus said as the anger filled his eyes with tears.

"Well Nathalka was quite a little toy. We had loads of fun with her" Carmilla giggled.

Markus charged towards her but with a small gesture of her hand Carmilla send him flying 2 meters through the air. With her free hand she pulled the stake from her body.

Markus didn't give up that easy. He used a sword from the wall to skin the front of Carmilla's body.

If he couldn't kill her, he would at least make sure she would have to spend the rest of her life in pieces.

"My body! I waited centuries for this! You filthy bastard!"

I felt that the cut to my throad wasn't going to kill me so I got up from the floor. I felt weak but the wound stopped bleeding.

I realized Miika's blood gave me superb healing skills, a mortal wouldn't have survived from a cut like that.

"You are made from the seven original sins, you have seven weaknesses." I said.

"Bardulf!" Markus yelled with relief.

"You appear quite the warrior my love!" Carmilla cooed.

"I'm not your love, and will never be!"I ran towards her and grabbed her shoulders. I pulled her down and smashed my knee into her face. I released her shoulders, clamped my hands together and smashed her on the back of her head.

I jumped backwards, landed on the floor with one foot and kicked with the other one directly onto her temple. She flew to the other side of the room where Markus delivered another blow to her. Carmilla came back towards me. It was like playing catch. I catched her in my arms, holding her against my chest. I turned her around, held my arm against her neck, my other arm around her shoulder.

Markus ran towards us and smashed his arms inside Carmilla's body. Carmilla was screaming as she got torn apart.

"Markus… Kill her…" I said as I struggeled to keep her in place.

"Do you know who you are... Bardulf?…" She replied looking me dreamy in the eyes. Her head was turned almost completely towards me. Her neck snapped at the bizar angle.

"Do it!" I commanded Markus.

"You were never a child, you have no memories of your youth. Isn't that true?" Carmilla said to me. The love in her eyes changed to sadism.

"Have you ever wondered when or even why you were bitten by a wolf? why you survived? You didn't! No one had the answers so you neglected your own history. But Miika knew, he knew who you were, he was watching you for years... 129 years to be exact..."

"That's impossible! I would remember that!" I yelled at her.

"Would you? You can't even remember anything from the last year! Your body is designed to live forever, your memory erases itselfs, it's lying to you, making you think you are barely 20 years old.

You never survived that bite, Bardulf... You haven't lived ever since. You're a parasite, feeding on other entities, other lifeforms, sucking up their energie and using it for yourself. Their energy is for you, what blood is for a Vampire."

"Don't listen to her!" Markus yelled.

"I've got her heart in my hand I can litterely feel her lies!"

"When you were created, Bardulf, you were spat out by the world. You are the complete opposite of Lucifer. The Devil created you, you betraid hem, and he banned you to Earth. The Wolf didn't kill you, because you are not a human, you are not even from this world. You... are a Demon!"

"Kill her, Markus!" I Said once again.

Carmilla broke loose from my grip. She grabbed the arm of Markus, whom was still burried inside Carmilla's chest, and broke it. I could hear the bones snap in his arm, his eyes widened and filled up with pain. A vampire isn't mortal, but it is capable of feeling extreme agony.

Carmilla pulled the arm out of her chest, and pushed Markus away from her. Markus fell to the floor.

Rolling his body up in a ball because of the agonizing pain.

She turned around. I raised my fist to hit her, but when I punched, she grabbed my hand in mid-air. When I tried to hit her with my other fist, she also grabbed it. She turned my wrists around. It felt like a bag of sand was opened inside my wrist, and emptied itself in my arms. She let go, and placed her arms around my neck.

"You... will die... and I will live… it has already been set into motion…Sorry love..." She whispered in my ears. She then looked me in the eyes, smiled, and kissed me. It was a warm, love filled kiss, what made me feel safe and at home.

I felt the air being pushed out of my body, I felt my lungs gasping for air, my heart pumping, my brain boiling.

The world started to tremble. It baceme dark. I started to hallucinate... make my own world... my own perfect life... Because how could I see my entire life flash before my eyes... if I can't remember any of it... How wrong I was...

I felt surrounded by fire. I felt my back burning, like wings that are scorched off. I screamed at the top of my lungs, and felt cold replacing the heat. there were buildings rising from smoke, trembling buildings, starting at small wooden cabins, and morphing into large flats and skyscrapers.

People started to walk around me, they got older while walking, they started as babies and died at the other end of the street, but I didn't grew older. My clothes changed, they kept getting darker and longer. Wolves rushed through the human crowd, slaying some, but the others didn't notice. I felt the bite once again in my neck. The wolve that bit me. it was brief, and the world just kept changing.

The sun never came up, it stayed dark. My life, was one long night. I tried to look up. And saw the sky burning... I lived all my life in hell, litteraly...

I Opened my eyes for one last time.

"You were... right... Carmilla"... I growled...

Warm blood splashed all over my face. I closed my eyes to prevent blood getting in.  
I could breathe again... I opened my eyes, and saw the broken face of Carmilla. A sword was smashed through it. From the top to the bottom of her skull.

"You were going to die anyway, I though I might just kill her, and see what it did to you!" Markus said.

I smiled, I didn't die. Because I'm more than just the other half of Carmilla, more than just the opposite of evil, more than just alive.


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

"Drink Bardulf… You have to regain your strength…"Markus offered his blood to Bardulf.

Greedy Bardulf took the blood into his system and Markus had to push him back to prevent him from draining him dry completely.

Dawn was not far away. We won this fight. We started to scout the factory for any survivors. Unfortunately there weren't much. Tuomas, Markus and a hand full of soldiers were the only ones that survived. My strength got back fast, I had the regeneration strength of an immortal.

We burned the lycan bodies. We had to make sure no mortal would find out what came to pass here.

From the crypts we took Miika's coffin and body. He would be given a proper funeral at Olavinlinna. His home, our home.

When I left the factory I felt both emotionally as physically drained.

"We must leave, before the dawn catches up on us" I said. It was time for us to go home. To start building a new life.

When we arrived at the helicopters we found blood tracks, it worried me.

My fear was proven accurate when we didn't find Nathalka in the helicopter.

Markus turner around and I saw his normal grey eyes turn cobalt blue, almost as if they glowed in the dark.

"Where is she?" I heard the panic in Markus voice.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!" He yelled as he grabbed my collar and pushed me against a wall.

"I don't know..." I said as I looked him in the eye.

I didn't care if he blamed me there was nothing I could do.

The coven was saved, I played my part in their history.

We searched the beginning of the forest for any sign of Nathalka, but when the sun started to creep over the treetops we needed to go.

"Markus we need to go, sunlight is coming" I said.

"NO, I can't leave without her, I already left once without her I'm not doing it again." Markus said as he pushed me out of his way.

"We have to think about the coven…. they need you now" I tried to hide that I felt just like him.

"FRAK the coven, what has the coven ever done for me? NOTHING, the only two people in this frakked up cursed world who ever done anything for me are GONE. GONE you hear me?

Miika and Nathalka were the ones who cared! And they are gone!" Markus yelled, I saw the panic in his eyes, it made my own eyes tear up as well.

I walked away towards the helicopter, talked to some soldiers.

I got in the helicopter and I saw how the remaining soldiers grabbed Markus from behind and dragged him into the helicopter.

Markus' desperate screams went through my core, through my bones.

"If we leave she's DEAD, DEAD you hear me Bardulf! She doesn't have the luxury of walking in sunlight like you and me! We could stay! BARDULF! You can't do this Bardulf! YOU CANT DO THIS!" Markus yelled as they shoved him into the other helicopter.

I felt as if I had died within. My body was fine, but a part of me died that day.

Markus' cries died out when the doors of the helicopter were closed.

As we took off and I saw the ground getting further away from us I wondered.

Would I ever see Nathalka again? If not in this life maybe another.

The end?.....


	28. Epilogue

**Epilogue.**

_Every creature on this earth dies alone._

Or so it was always told.

The truth was, as I dragged myself off into the woods, I didn't feel alone.

I felt the dawn was near, but I didn't fear it.

Finally, after centuries I would become part of the cycle of life again.

A cycle that my kind has been breaking for centuries.

As I saw the dawn wash over my face for the first time in over 300 years I didn't feel scared.

I was relieved, the sun was beautiful I didn't remember it being so big.

When I closed my eyes a tear ran down my face, my mother, my father, my sister. I was going home.


End file.
